


Something on Your Mind (AKA: What do you mean my actions have consequences)

by grandpahasNOrights



Category: House of 1000 Corpses (Movies)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Everyone Is Gay, Gay, M/M, gay gang rise UP HAPPY FUCKING PRIDE
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 11:08:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 41,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24848779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandpahasNOrights/pseuds/grandpahasNOrights
Summary: Months have passed since James joined the family, and he finally feels like he's settling down into as much of a normal as he can given the setting. It's never that easy, though.
Comments: 27
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> UH OH SPAGHETTI OS IM BACK MOTHERFUCKER

“Shit, relax man! It’ll be fine!”

Ryan had heard Don tell their group that all fucking night. They’d managed to get stranded with no gas, no money, and no one knowing any fucking clue where they were. The last time they’d had any real grasp on their location, they were leaving San Antonio and going even deeper into the south west. Don had roped him and his girlfriend into some shitty weekend getaway that was probably a fucking setup for some shitty organ stealing scam and-

“Yeah, silly goosies! We’re just tryin’ to help you get your ride all better!”

This fucking girl.

He wasn’t an idiot. He knew a cute girl when he saw one; his girlfriend was living proof of that. But there was also a very,  _ very  _ obvious way to tell when someone was laying a trap. Their car blowing a tire in the middle of nothingTexas only to have her bounce her way in like some sort of white trash angel was setting off  _ all  _ his alarm bells. Her smile was too wide, showing off too many teeth to be genuine. Her eyes had a sort of feral glint to them; her pupils were dilated, like a cat who was about to pounce on it’s prey. Her laugh was high pitched and noisey. Forced. Like she had to will herself to make it to humor those around her.

Her brother wasn’t too much better.

He, at the very least, had tried to act like a normal fucking person. But he was still off. He came around the corner in a pair of shorts that had obviously at one point been jeans. They were cut short,  _ much  _ shorter than anything he’d ever seen a man wear. And worst,  _ worst  _ of all the fucker had an earring in his right ear. He didn’t  _ know  _ know, but he was almost positive as to what that meant. And it made him sick.

“Thank you for that.” Ryan mumbled under his breath. “Don’t think that I don’t appreciate that. It’s just real late and all and I’m super tired-”

“-It isn’t too late.” The brother, he’d said his name was Jim? James? Interrupted. Ryan had to physically force himself not to slap the taste out of his mouth.

“It’s three in the fucking morning!”

“And? Your point? Night’s still young bucko. Maybe you just need to learn to embrace it.”

Before Ryan could say much else, they finally saw headlights approaching. The girl- she’d given them the name Baby? Fucking Baby?- began to hoot and holler in a frenzy. 

“My brother! Hang on, we’re gonna go catch im’ up to speed.”

Ryan winced as the doors slammed behind them. It was too loud; much too loud for something this late.

“Will you get the damn stick out of your ass for five fucking seconds?” Don hissed from the front seat. “I’m tryin’ to get my car fixed up  _ and  _ get some fuckin’ pussy at the same time! Two birds with one fuckin’ stone!” 

“You aren’t wrong with that. Two birds is fuckin’ right.” Don glanced at his girlfriend, confused. “You saw how that one guy worked. The hair, the way he walks with his hips… Total fuckin’ queer.”

Silence. Ryan had thought the exact same thing, and knew Don  _ had  _ to have too, but no one had really wanted to say it. Finally it was like a damn breaking; the entire car erupted into a wave of giggles. Fuck, that was kinda funny.

“You got a point, but shut the fuck up. I don’t want the fuckin’ redneck Bradys to turn on us and make us have to walk all the way back to town.”

Almost as if on cue, the passenger door opened and Baby threw herself back down on the seat. 

“Good news! He said y’all can get a tow back home! We’re just gonna leave y’all back here to ride back to our house and then-”

“All of us? Can it really hold five people and the car?” Shelly had cut her off before she can even finish. In a split second, Ryan could almost swear that he saw something flash on her face. Her eye twitched a bit as she stared in silence before her normal smile blasted back to a full beam like nothing had happened.

“I mean, yeah, it can.But I’m not gonna be back here silly!” A wave of giggles followed as she eased herself back. “James is gonna be in here and I’ll ride up with my brother!”

“Can I come?” Don stumbled over himself in a frenzy. The man’s hormones knew no boundaries, and Ryan wanted to rip his head off. The girl’s smile intensified as she nodded her head.

“Sure, big boy! Come on up!”

Don had launched himself out of the door and rushed to her side. In his place came Baby’s brother; plopping down into the passenger seat as his sister started to back away.

“Y’all just hang tight alright? Shouldn’t be too hard now!”

Ryan watched the man in the passenger seat turn to him and grin. The car lurched forward as the truck finally started off down the road. It was dark, pitch black around them as they traveled through the brush. And that fucker kept looking at them like he was waiting on something.

“Can I help you?” Shelly’s tone was acidic. 

“Just tryin’ to pass the time’s all. Y’all got any cool stories from the road? Seems like lots of people have stories.”

“Why the fuck do you even car-”

“Saw a dude get mugged a state over.” Ryan was just trying to appease this asshole, and truth be told he felt a little bad for him. He was some backwoods hick who’d probably never gone more than ten miles for his house. Listening to strangers yak about melodramatic horseshit was probably the closest thing he could get to fun.

“Really?” He didn’t seem as interested in that as he’d thought he’d be. “You try and stop it at all?”

“Hell no. We just got out of that mess- I mean, what was I supposed to do? Be a hero and get my ass beat?”

Silence. James turned his attention back towards the front of the car leaving the two of them to themselves.

“What the fuck is he-” Shelly was trying to be as quiet as possible, but it wasn’t enough. The girl was loud. Ryan knew this and rushed to interject;

“I know. Just shut up and let it ride until we get to their house-”

“-Y’know my boyfriend got mugged once up at that one Captain Spauldin’ place.” 

Ryan and Shelly both stopped in their tracks. James was still focused on the truck towing them as he twirled a length of hair around his finger.

“Well, they tried to at least. Boy’s almost seven foot tall and nothin’ but muscle; they didn’t get too far. He sent em’ runnin’ to their mommies like a baby lost at the store- fuckin’ hilarious to watch.”

“You… Your boyfriend?” Shelly had been the first of them both to respond. “You makin’ up some kind of new slang or-”

“-I think that term’s been a thing for quite some time.” Ryan couldn’t believe this shit. The man lit…. Was it a joint? The smell confirmed to them that yes, It was a joint. The two started to gag.

“Mean it like how you mean it with your lil’ beu next to you.”

“But- you can’t-” Ryan couldn’t finish before Shelly erupted.

“You really wanna compare whatever perverted little hick sideshow  _ shit  _ you do to me? You think you’re the same as me and him?” She snarled. James gave a simple shrug as the smoke started to obscure his face. 

“You got some  _ fucking  _ nerve sayin’ that shit. When we stop I’ll get out of this car and beat your ass you little fairy fa-”

Ryan heard the twack before he’d registered what exactly the man in front of them had done. It took one solid hit from a baton he’d been holding right to his girlfriends temple to send her into a spasm fit; twitching and slumping against the car window a bloody mess. Ryan reeled; looking between the slumped form of his girlfriend and the smoke obscured face of the man in front of him.

“I’m sorry, brother. I like to cut if off when it gets too heated and your girl was  _ really  _ starting to get there.”

“You fucking-”

He got his own whack this time. Ryan didn’t go down; he bobbed, disoriented. He shut his eyes and opened them only to be met with darkness. With a scream he blinked rapidly, trying to get his bearings as he thrashed around the car like a wounded animal.

“You- you you yo- you can’t get away with this shit. I’ll fucking kill you-”

Getting hit in the head once made it hard to talk. Getting hit twice made it impossible.

Ryan flopped awkwardly to the side. If he had to give this guy one thing, the second hit had made his vision come back. It was a blurry haze, but at the very least it was enough to watch as his captor loomed over him like some distorted demon from hell.

“Boy will you shut the fuck up? Done this before and I’ll do it again.”

The car lurched to a stop right as a third whack finally knocked him out.


	2. happy pride to all the lesbians and bi women heres a baby chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby has fun with one of the captives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy pride month to all the gay ladies out there here have this.... i feel like youll like it

“Please- fuck, please  _ please  _ I’m begging you-”

“Ugh, shut UP already!” Baby let out a snarl and smacked the head of the man below her. He whimpered like a dog who’d got caught pissing on carpet and finally,  _ thankfully  _ shut his damn mouth. He’d been going on and on all fucking night and she was sick of it.

“You were real excited to get in here and have some fun with me, but now that we’re ready to start you go and get cold feet? What kinda manners your Mama raise you with?”

The man- Don? Dan? It was Don, she remembered- was hesitant to even respond.

“I- I thought, that by fun you meant-”

“I meant what?” 

She knew damn well what he meant. They all thought the same thing, but she wanted  _ him  _ to admit it. He winced and swallowed hard in a way that reminded her of a cartoon.

“I thought you meant like foolin’ around in bed?” 

God, how fucking  _ pathetic.  _ Baby had absolutely no sympathy for men like this; they saw her as a piece of fucking  _ meat.  _ Something to eat and then get rid of after they’d had their fill. It wasn’t that far of a stretch to imagine this is how they treated all of the women around them, like playthings, like scraps they could use for themselves. So why not fuck around with that? Why not let them think that she’s playing along, let them think that she’ll have “fun” with them tonight? It was boring, sure, but it was a surefire way to get them to come along for the ride.

“With  _ you?”  _ Baby sneered. She raised her boot and stomped on one of his hands, causing him to let out a high pitched yowl. “With fucking  _ you?  _ You think I’d really settle for some greasy, disgusting slob that rolled in in a fucking beater like that? Do you really have that big of a’ ego on yourself?”

Don grabbed his injured hand and scowled up at his captor. It was clear that his caution was starting to give way to rage. Baby could take him; she knew she could, she’d taken down men twice his size with nothin’ but her hands and teeth before. But she didn’t want to lose control of the situation this quickly.

“You fucking backwoods hick- stupid fucking  _ whore-” _

Another bash to the jaw. He reeled a bit, grabbing at the side of his face with tears pricking at his eyes. Baby took a squat so that she was eye-level with him and grabbed along his injured side so that he was facing her.

“Listen here Einstein. I’m gonna have some fun with you tonight. We’re gonna play a little game of hide and go seek. I’ll even let you get a head start- when we’re ready to go I’m gonna cut your bindings and you have three whole minutes to move that fat ass of yours as far away from here as possible before I start after you.”

“W- Why- What happens if you catch me?”

Don’s words were garbled as the inside of his mouth started to swell. Baby could see blood on his teeth. His jaw was already turning purple.

“Then you lose! I get to bury my knife so deep in your damn chest you're gonna have to call those diggin’ boys to come and unearth it!” 

Don’s eyes went wide. Baby felt her smile grow even wider- god this was her favorite fucking part. The part where these boys always realized how deep they were in. For some reason or another they all seemed to think they had complete control over their surroundings, like they were god or somethin’. No fuckin’ humility. Like a damn  _ kid.  _

“But if you win? Then you get your freedom back! Go off and do whatever the hell you want for all I care! All you gotta do is make it until mornin’, alright?” She forced herself to speak as slowly and plainly as she could, stressing every word like she was talking to a misbehaving toddler. Baby was worried that it’d all gone over his head until he finally nodded in agreement. 

“Good! Now, I’m gonna cut you lose, but the minute these are off that timer starts! So you best get going while you can.” 

“W- why are you closing your ey-” Don couldn’t finish. He started to scream and buck around wildly like a man possessed. 

“I can’t look! I’ll be able to see where you’re runnin’ if I look!” Baby scolded. She didn’t even need to see her hands to know what was going on; she could feel the hot, sticky weight of the blood on her fingers. Finally, the thrashing stopped and she could hear his feet thud against the wood boards under them. He was off; ripping through the house and out the front door like a man possessed.

She was true to her word. Her eyes were still shut, and she’d keep em’ shut until the three minutes was up. There wasn’t any fun in runnin’ off after them before the time had lapsed. They needed a minute or three to really get somewhere good; her hunting skills were some of the best in the family besides Rufus. Maybe Otis would need more time, but her? She had this. Truth be told, though, she was impatient. And hadn’t really set a timer for this before she’d shut her eyes.

“Fuck it!” Baby’s eyes opened and with an excited shriek she tore after the poor bastard. The door across from hers was open. A T.V. was on. Rufus watched her frenzy with apathetic indifference.

“Down there. Pretty sure he went out the front door.” 

Baby gave her brother a quick nod and almost  _ flew  _ down the stairs.

It was pitch black out. There wasn’t a moon tonight, and the trees around their property blocked out whatever bit of light the stars could give. She knew the land well enough, though. She could walk this entire property blindfolded and know exactly where she was going. She forced herself to slow her breathing and hunched down closer to the grass. Somewhere in the trees there was a snap; then a rustle of branches. The fucker was actually making a run for it. The way he was going was just leading deeper into the woods, not near any roads or anything else he could actually use. Jesus this guy was  _ stupid. _

Baby knew better than to rush right into the brush. He’d hear her and scatter- not to mention, there was a thicket bush right at the mouth of the treeline. Slowly, she made her way around the edge of the tree to a spot that was thinner and kept her body as low as she could. It only took her a few minutes of creeping to find him out of breath and slumped against a stump. His face was redder than a tomato. His breath came in loud and labored pants. It was so pitiful that she almost felt bad for hunting him like this.

_ Almost. _

The fucker had his eyes closed now. Baby started to creep her way across the clearing.

With a quick lunge she was on top of him. She struck. And struck. And struck. And struck. She didn’t stop until his nose was a bloody pulp caved into his face. One of his eyes was open- bloodshot, wide and fearful as she loomed. The look in his eyes reminded her of a little bunny right before a hawk snatched it away. 

“You weren’t quick enough!” Baby’s voice was high and airy. Her knife twirled a bit in her hands before she brought it down quickly. A slash to his chest. A stab in his gut. A slit to his neck. He was moaning- no,  _ gurgling  _ as he wriggled in the grass. She didn’t bother to finish; watching him struggle would be more satisfying. 

By the time he finally stopped twitching the sun was starting to come up. Baby kicked him before grabbing his wrist; nothing. He was gone. And in his wake was a couple hundred pound corpse that she now had to drag all the way back up the house.

“Fuck.”

She could leave him to the buzzards. There wasn’t much of a way she could get it all back up there, and yeah, Otis would get mad about wasting him. But what could she do? She was strong, but not  _ that  _ strong.

A rustling noise shook her out of her thoughts. A looming figure stood at the edge of the clearing. He started towards her with an odd gait, half limping and half dragging his foot behind him as he ambled towards her. To anyone else lurking around it would have looked terrifying.

“Tiny!”

Baby couldn’t help her excitement as she ran to her brother. She threw her arms around him and he did the same. Her brother never really hunted nobody, and only rarely killed if it came down to defending himself or one of them. But he was always nearby when they needed help cleaning up a mess.

"Got your work cut out for ya today bro."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see if men were just like. nice or whatever i feel like she wouldnt go ham like literally all you gotta do is not be a creepy perve and the cool murder lady wont torture you to death its that simple if that were me i would simply say maam your outfit i love it and she would know im gay and then would wanna be my best friend.


	3. that one ugly motherfuckers in this chapter :/

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and RJ give some art advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i swear ONE MORE CHAPTER before we get to the plot

“So what all did you do to her again?”

To be completely honest James could  _ see  _ what Otis had done. The poor girls ribs were cracked and contorted behind her in a cheap attempt to make wings. Her lungs were weaved in between the bones; a choice he didn’t really understand at first until he saw them inflate. The entire display was rounded up with a clunky, hand made paper mache head in the shape of an owl. 

“Blood eagle! Or, blood owl I guess. Made her look like one a’ the princes of Hell!” Otis was ecstatic. One of his hands traced the rib to his left tenderly, like he was touching a newborn baby. “She was a real good specimen after I knocked around in her skull a lil’ bit. Had a nasty fight in er’!”

“I know! She called me a whole buncha names in the car ride over here.” 

“Most annoyin’ fuckin’ voice I ever heard. All ‘ _ untie me you fuckin’ hick!’  _ and ‘ _ put that fuckin’ ice pick down please! Pleeeease!’” _ Otis made a choking noise and mimed a frantic struggle so over the top that James couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Wait… Haven’t you made one of these before?” 

“Well- yeah. What of it?” Otis snarled. “Last ones all had flaws! One of em’s lungs busted when I tried ropin’ em’ through the ribs and another bled out before she was done. But her? She’s intact! AND breathing!”

A quick once over confirmed that she was in fact both intact and breathing. 

“It looks good! The fact that she’s still alive makes it even better. It’s so morbid- like, she can feel everything still... and.....” James stumbled a bit over his words. He felt like he didn’t have the eye for this Otis wanted. His expression had gotten lower and lower with every word that came out of James' mouth. By this point he looked primed to make a scene; his eyes were wild and his nostrils were flaring like a bull about to charge. Before he could, however, a low grunt pulled both of their attention back to the other side of the room.

“I like how you added the little crown on top of the owl’s head.”

Rufus’ comment made Otis  _ beam.  _ He was always the one he went to when he needed genuine advice on his projects. Baby was always so enthusiastic with any kind of carnage that _anything_ looked amazing in her eyes. Tiny was just too timid to really show all this off to. And Mama? He could paint the walls with his shit and she’d still insist it was a masterpiece. RJ was the only one in the family with the balls to tell him if his art wasn't shit, and for that, he appreciated him.

“Well thank you kindly.” He let out a nasally laugh and went to tip the musty, stained, scraggly looking trucker hat he’d thrown on. His hands were still caked with blood, and when he moved his hands away from the brim there were fresh splotches of red amongst the old brown. The smell was noticeable even among all the rot around them. It made James want to gag. Thankfully, Otis didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy fussing with his project again.

“What’re you all doin’ with yours? He still up in your room?” He had his back to the two of them as he tightened a strap around her hands. A low groan escaped from under the mask as he worked, sickly and weak. She wouldn't be here for much longer.

“Mama thinks we should leave him for the doctor.” James shrugged. “I think we should go with what she says.”

“Well no shit you should!” Otis barked, smacking the wall for emphasis. The piece's arm twitched as it hung limp and unfastened. ” I mean what are you doin’ with em’ in the meantime? You just gonna let him sit up there taped to the damn wall listenin’ to your little puppet shows for a week?”

“We’ll do something with him! I just don’t know what yet!”

“Well, wait around too long and that fucker’ll die up there. You gotta say fuck it and cut em' down before it's too late.” Otis turned and looked the two over judgmentally. He rushed them, grabbing James by the shoulder and shoving him towards the door. 

“Had enough of this lil’ social visit. Get the fuck outta my room.”

With that, the door slammed right in their faces. This outburst wasn’t anything too unusual for Otis; by nature, he was extremely volatile. This happened multiple times a week at this point. But his latest outburst had posed a decent enough question;

“What  _ are  _ we doin’ with em’?” RJ asked as he led James back to their room. James thought hard for a moment; he’d never really done any of the grunt work when it came to victims. It was always someone else who got the ball rolling and gave the motivation on where to go. The door to their room creaked open and they were met with the site of their victim; gagged, bound to the wall with duct tape. There was dried blood around his forehead. He was missing a shoe, and they both knew for a fact his clothes were ripped and singed to hell and back. For what it was worth, the guy was a fighter. Even after all the shit he went through he was awake when they entered the room. His eyes were frantic.  _ Pleading. _

“I dunno.”James gave a bored sigh. “What sounds fun to you?”

He knew RJ probably wasn’t the one to ask for pointers. It wasn’t that he didn’t really have a drive to kill or nothin’- on the contrary, he was downright  _ scary  _ when he got in the mood. It’s just that the mood wasn’t somethin’ that hit all that often. RJ was more of the type to curl up with him after work and flip through the TV for a few hours until he fell asleep. As he sized their wall ornament up, however, James heard him make a throaty sort of growl. It sounded like he had an idea.

“What you say he called you in the cab?”

“That was his girlfriend, babe. She called me a fairy fag or somethin’.” 

The look he saw flicker across Rufus’ face was  _ deadly. _

“Fairy fag…” He rumbled. RJ’s legs were long enough that he crossed the distance between him in the wall in mere moments. His hand grabbed the guy’s jaw and yanked him around like it was nothing. “Could squash his fuckin’ head with one hand I really wanted too. Him and his girl wanna act real tough, but you think he could do somethin’ like that?”

“I don’t think he could.”

The guy’s eyes went  _ wild-  _ his thrashing intensified and they could both hear muffled sobs through his gag. RJ’s arm muscles tensed as he applied more pressure. His free hand lurched towards the guy's throat and before they knew it there was a vice like grip around his windpipe. A sadistic, predatory sounding growl erupted as RJ watched his captive squirm. James wanted to swoon- the gesture was so  _ romantic.  _ Coming to his defense after being harassed by this assclown? Getting his revenge?  The entire thing was almost perfect-

-until he realized their captive was turning purple.

“RJ- Rufus- We need him alive.” James put a hand on his back. Rj didn't let up, the absolute fucker. James was left with no choice but to start smacking the everloving shit out of his shoulder blade.

“RUFUS.” He insisted. Finally, he could feel the muscles under his hands relax. Rufus pulled away and looked at him sheepishly,

“Sorry, hun. I got a little too heated with it. I hate when these fuckers start sayin’ that shit.” His face was red, and James wasn’t sure if it was from the exertion of strangling the poor fuck or from embarrassment.

“It’s alright- we just gotta keep him around for a little bit longer.” A look back to the wall showed that he was still conscious, but an eye was red from a burst vessel. He let out a weird sort of rasp as he tried to breathe without the pressure of someone’s huge sausage fingers in his jugular.

“Wanna take a break to think about what we wanna do with em’?” James offered. His boyfriend gave a nod and before he knew it he was being dragged towards their bed. With a plop, they landed on the mattress and started settling in among the blankets and pillows nested around them. It all seemed so mundane; settling down in a big bed with each other after a long day or working hard. The perfect American dream life.

The guy passing out from shock on the wall really took away from it, but that wasn’t really here nor there.

“So… When we take him out to offer him to the doctor. Do we just… Shove em’ in a hole and leave?”

“Yep.”

“That’s it? Do you ever seen him at all?” 

“Satan?” James nodded. RJ was quiet for a moment. His lips twitched a bit, just like Mama’s did when she was agitated about something she couldn’t say. “Don’t worry about it.”

Rufus’ tone had a finality to it that told James he should drop the subject. And he did. With a sigh, he settled into RJ’s chest right as the bright colors of the Muppet Show started to flash across their TV. Satan could wait; They had a rerun of the Steve Martin episode on tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i had the outline with all three of the first chapters being one thing but i didnt want one huge thing of text that didn't mesh well together so i split it. thts why theyve been kind of smaller
> 
> i swear guys this next chapter should get the actual plot started up


	4. ram ranch but its for het men and were in the 1950s

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback. Gloria arrives at the Sunset Acres ranch.
> 
> (Gloria is Mama's legal name)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing with mamas legal name felt like i was deadnaming her. like it felt wrong and invasive. im so sorry mama : (

1948.

The Painted Lizard had been running for almost 20 years and was finally finished. It was a wonder she got out at all; when they’d been raided, most of the girls had been grabbed by the pigs flooding through the front. Gloria was with a client in her room- back of the house, the biggest one besides the madam’s. A real dream. Then she’d heard the screaming from the living room and knew it was all over. 

She’d grabbed what she could and made out the window to her right, much to the confusion of the overweight John still plopped in her bed. Truth be told, she kind of felt bad for him; He was a regular. She saw him a few times a month. The poor fucker was just lonely, that’s all, nowhere  _ near  _ as bad as some of the guys that came in. But she needed to get the  _ hell  _ out of here. She ran all night. Went to a friend she knew she could trust, someone who might have an idea on where to go from here.

“Place down by Ruggsville that’s ‘sposed to be untouchable.”

Gloria had stumbled onto his porch around three in the morning, half dead and scared out of her mind. Martin was nice- much,  _ much  _ nicer than he could have been in his position, but it still felt like he was trying to shove her off on the first person he could.

“Nothin’s untouchable.” 

“This place is. Been around some fifty years.”

That was  _ unheard of _ . A place going that long without getting busted?

“Has it shut down at all?”

“Nope. Runnin’ the entire span.”

Unbelievable. This was good.  _ Too  _ good. Gloria was skeptical of this entire situation; she wanted to take more time to review her options, see if there was some other option she could take. Realistically speaking, she knew that she didn’t have that time. If Marty got frustrated she could get outed and then…. Well, she didn’t wanna think about that too much. So it was decided; in the morning they’d leave and go on an hour and a half long drive down to some shithole called “Ruggsville”. 

“Just down this road.” Martin said. She hadn’t slept at all. He’d taken her through a mess of backroads and deserted ghost towns to get wherever the hell they were now. For the first time since she’d got into the car, Gloria thought of the possibility of this all being a trap. A setup. She could get out of the car and get ambushed by cops or-

-no. She wouldn’t let that thought pop into her mind. Too many girls she knew went down that road. Gloria idly palmed at the knife strapped to her thigh like some sort of comfort item; the one scrap of protection she had against whatever the fuck she was getting into. The road in front of her thinned until eventually they saw it; A house, huge and looming over the rest of the property. She could see it through the trees; white, alabaster color and almost  _ shining  _ in the afternoon sun. It was impressive. A large sign hung above the drive; Sunset Acres. To anyone else, it could pass as some sorta ranch. 

The car gradually skid to a halt. Amidst the cloud of dust that kicked up around the car Gloria could see a girl. She looked about her age; bright blue eyes, long red hair and lips fuller than the fuckin’  _ moon.  _ Gloria suddenly felt self conscious; she hadn’t had time to  _ sleep,  _ let alone get something presentable on. This was a fucking  _ nightmare. _

“Marty? What the hell brings you out here?” The girl asked from the porch. Marty rolled a window down and cleared his throat before addressing her;

“Go get your Mama, hun. I’m here on business.”

His sentence was short. Prompt. To the point. Her attention went from Marty to Gloria and her eyes widened. The girl knew it was serious almost immediately and turned tail; she threw the door to the house open and raced inside. Gloria could hear her voice echoing out the front door. Eyes peered down at the car from windows on the ground floor, upstairs,  _ everywhere.  _ Eventually, the door was shoved opened with a loud thunk; through the frame strode a large woman. Done up in her best, she had on a long flowing gown and the gaudiest looking makeup that did wonders to accentuate her features. Blue eyeshadow. Thick wings on her eyes. Bright pink lipstick. A mole on her cheek looked scribbled on with a liner pen. She came to a stop at the edge of the porch, eying the car with the intensity of sun itself.

“Martin…” Her voice sounded rough, like the smokers down at the hair salon she’d go to. Regardless, the smile that tweaked her lips was warm. Inviting. She made her way down the steps with outstretched arms, motioning for Marty to come out for a hug. He did, and she smashed him into her chest in a ferocious bear hug. 

“What brings you all the way out here? My girls said you’re here on business?” Her eyes flickered away from Marty and fixed on Gloria, still in the passenger seat. Her expression was unreadable. Gloria  _ hated  _ that.

“Yes, ‘fraid I am. Sure you heard about the Lizard?” The woman nodded her head.

“A real shame… Knew the girl who ran that place. Nice woman. Too nice. Bit her in the ass.” She giggled a bit, like she’d told the mother of all jokes or something. Gloria wasn’t laughing.

“..Regardless. I got a girl who managed to get away from that mess. She’s lookin’ for work and I thought you could use er’?”

The madam’s attention returned to Gloria. Slowly, she made her way to the passenger’s side of the car. With a dramatic flourish she motioned for Gloria to exit. She did. A hand grabbed at her jaw, turning her head and surveying her features like she was some kind of show dog. After what seemed like ages, the woman made a satisfied sounding purr.

“She’s good. Real good. What’s your name, hun?” 

“Gloria, ma’am.” A nail dug into her back. Gloria couldn’t hide the wince as it pressed in harder, hard enough that she thought she’d  _ bleed _ .

“Ma’am? Oh, girl, you don’t gotta be so formal! Just call me mama… Mama Bell! I’m like a mother to all my girls here, see, and you aren’t gonna be any different. I’ll take her.” 

The way she’d said “take” made Gloria want to squirm. Regardless, she followed Marty to his trunk and grabbed the bags she’d been able to scrounge up before she left- all two of them. Mama Bell clicked her tongue judgmentally.

“Why so little?”

“The cops raided our house. I had to grab what I could or else I woulda got taken with em’.” 

“Oh.. You poor thing!” Bell sounded shocked. What had she expected to happen? The cops had raided them, for fuck’s sake. With a quick flourish two girls were at their side, grabbing the bags and dragging them up to the porch. 

“You won’t have to worry about that anymore, darlin’. Nothin’ like that happens ‘round here.”

It seemed dumb. Trivial. But Gloria was so tired.  _ So  _ fucking tired.

“Can- can you promise?” Her voice shook a little bit. The weight of the day was finally starting to weigh down on her. Bell’s expression went from a sort of show persona to a genuine, honest to god concern.

“Of course I can… We’re not like all those other setups. We got some special protections ‘round us here….” She trailed off. Gloria didn’t question what the protections were; she was just too fucking tired. Bell extended her arm for her to take and she did. It felt like she was being carried almost; the weight of walking never really registering as the women helped her inside. The door closing behind them, the outside world being blocked off, felt  _ cathartic.  _

The house was big, much bigger than her last one. There were eleven rooms total; the master bedroom was on the first floor along with a few others. The rest were upstairs, including Gloria’s. She got the last one at the end of the hall. It was small and cramped, with barely any room for much else than her bed and a wardrobe for her clothes. 

“Sorry for the tight quarters, honey. You’re new and all, so I gotta stick you with this until we can sort somethin’ else out.”

It wasn’t like she had much that would take up space to begin with. Even if she had, she knew enough about the business to realize where she was. The minute she’d left the lizard she’d forfeited her position she’d built up for months working for her last lady. Here, she was back at square one. She’d have to start over from the beginning and work her way back up.

And so she started to work.

Weeks. Months. Years. She started to climb the monstrosity that was Sunset Acres. Before she knew it she was Bell’s top girl. The others were talented; knew what they were doing, tricks to make guys go  _ wild.  _ But they didn’t have personality. They were just a pretty face or a nice set of tits. But Gloria? She was the complete package. She had her looks. She had her style, her quirky little thing with her eye’s the guys just ate  _ up.  _ She had her skills in the sack itself, but most importantly she had an actual honest to god  _ identity.  _ Men  _ loved  _ that more than anything.

And she knew it.

It was 1951. She’d become Mama’s right hand woman, the one regulars  _ begged  _ for and the out of towners asked about in hushed whispers. Bell made her feel welcome, secure,  _ safe  _ in her house. It was something that Gloria had never really felt before, and she was relishing in the warmth of it all. 

It was night time now. Most of the girls were working in their rooms. Gloria had decided to take the night for herself, on the porch away from it all. It was summer, and the fireflies had decided to come out in full form. She’d always loved how they looked this time of year, right at dusk. They dotted along the overgrown grass and made it seem like stars had fallen from the sky itself and made their homes in the weeds around them.

“Ain’t it pretty?” 

Gloria didn’t have to turn to the voice to know who it was. Mama Bell had a habit of sneaking up on her when she was alone; nothin’ sinister, just simple observations usually. It was the same tonight; Gloria heard the chair to her left creak as her Mama’s weight was added. The two women sat and watched the bugs flicker in and out along the treeline like their own personal heaven. 

“I’m gonna miss it somethin’ awful.” 

Mama Bell finally broke the silence. Gloria blinked; she turned her head to face her matron to see if she was joking. The tight line of her lip indicated she wasn’t.

“....You. You’re-”

“Gonna miss it.” She finished for her. “Glory, we gotta talk.”

The chair next to her creaked against the wood of the porch as Bell rocked herself . Gloria’s heart started to race; frantically, she looked over her to see if there was something,  _ anything  _ that seemed off. She didn’t  _ look  _ sick. Maybe it was one of those cancers?

“I… I think it’s about time I get goin’.” Bell’s voice sounded even rougher than usual, and her eyes were fixed on the field in front of them. “It’s about time I settle down and get me a family. Somethin’ nice and safe.”

Silence. Gloria never once looked away from the woman. The low song of crickets and the rocking of her chair was deafening to her.

“Its safe here.” 

“Not that kind of safe, hun. I want to  _ live,  _ not be tethered to some old sour ground like I’ve been for decades.”

Gloria couldn’t help the sarcastic snort that left her mouth.

“Decades? Please. You always talk about how we’re all your girls, you’re our  _ Mama.  _ But you wanna up and leave without so much as a word to anyone?”

“I never said that.” Bell finally broke her concentration from the field. She turned to look at the woman to her right and regretted it immediately. Gloria had tears pricking at the edges of her eyes. Her face was red, flushed with anger as she seethed at the woman next to her.

“Glory, honey-”

“-You’re just gonna throw this all away cause’ you’re too old to go on.” 

“Gloria.” Bell’s voice was sudden, firm. Gloria immediately backed down, swallowing a lump in her throat as the older matron glared her down. “Let me explain what I’m trying to say here. Do you know how old I am?”

That was an odd question Gloria didn’t really know how to answer. Bell nodded at her silence, a knowing sort of expression on her face.

“There’s a reason I never brought it up much. It’s cause I’m old.  _ Real  _ old.”

“...Like….Fourty?” Gloria cautioned.

“Older.”

“Shit… Fifty?” 

Silence.

“.....Sixty?”

More silence. Gloria didn’t dare go on further. Bell took a breath.

“Hun. I’m eighty-three.”

Gloria starred. She couldn’t… What?

“I was born around 68’. Grew up on farms towards the end of the civil war-”

“-You. You don’t look… Don’t look like that. Don’t look older than maybe fourty or so Mama…. What do you mean yo-”

“-My daddy bought this house when I was young. We used it for the family. When he went, it became mine. Everything was fine for a bit….” She trailed off. Her eyes found the field again.“There’s somethin’ off about this land, Glory. There’s a reason we never gotta worry about the law.”

Gloria was quiet. She had questions, but the entire situation was so bizarre she found herself unable to speak.

“Under this house.. Under these fields… There’s tunnels. I told you to stay away from anything that ain’t this house, remember? There’s a reason for that. You go into those tunnels you aren’t comin’ back.”

“....Why’s that?” 

Silence. Mama Bell sparked a match and lit a cigarette. A long puff, then a cloud of smoke.

“Cause’ there’s a monster down there. Don’t know how, don’t know why. Every single person I’ve asked gives me another answer. Some doctor who wanted to butcher people an’ make em’ into slaves. One of them witchcraft practitioners who went a lil’ too deep and summoned up somethin’ bad. No matter the story, it’s all the same; he’s down there. Him and his lackeys.”

“Who’s him?” 

Another pause. Another puff. 

“Satan himself, Glory.”

The entire situation was insane. Absolutely batshit  _ insane.  _ Gloria knew that it was fake- it  _ had to be.  _

“What’s stopping them from just… comin’ up here? If you’re not foolin’ me and tellin’ the truth.”

“He minds his own if we give him things.”

“Like what?”

Another puff.

“Sacrifice. People. He needs two a year or else he gets antsy. When he gets antsy, bad things start to happen.”

This all felt like some kind of scary story you’d tell a kid. With a laugh, Gloria shook her head.

“I don’t- I don’t believe a single thing you’re sayin’. You’ve really lost it now, Mama.” 

With that, she started to take her leave. She made it two steps from her chair before Bell cleared her throat with a rattling cough;

“You remember that one Lithil boy from town?”

Gloria stopped in her tracks. He was a regular-  _ was _ .

“He disappeared-”

“-He didn’t disappear, darlin’. He’s down there. With god knows how many others. They all start to stack up through the years. Hell, if your lucky, you might see him passin’ through the crowd he’s got by now. They aren’t that talkative, but you can see em’ at least.”

This was too much.  _ Way  _ too much. Gloria wanted to back away- run up to her room and grab everything she had and just  _ run.  _ Run like she had at the Lizard. But something held her in place against her better judgement. She shook as she glared daggers at Bell in her rocking chair.

“Why would you tell me all this? What’s the point?”

“Because  _ somebody’s  _ gonna have to take the reins on this operation once I’m gone, and I’m sure as hell not leavin’ it to none of the girls in there.” Almost as if on cue, a cartoonishly loud moan erupted from somewhere in the house. “See? You want me to let someone with a moan like  _ that  _ run this ship?”

“But  _ me?” _

_ “Yes, you!  _ Glory, you’re the only one out of this whole bunch who I trust with this. The burden of giving that ghoul his playthings has worn me down over the years. I’m ready to finally leave this place and move on with my life.”

“Would I have to…. Do whatever the hell it is you do? With those….”

“Yes. You would. He lets us get away with things as long as we give him a few people every once in a while. Two a year is what works best. You won’t get old after awhile. You can’t get caught if ya do anything on the land, long as it’s on here. Somehow he just…. Makes this place special. I dunno. And I don’t question it. It’s not my place too. You shouldn’t either. The bills get paid, the law keeps away… It’s a decent enough set up.”

“But we gotta  _ kill  _ people?” 

Mama Bell shrugged.

“Small price to pay.”

Bell didn’t leave any time to waste; her arms gripped the railing and hoisted herself to her feet. She was face to face with Gloria now; her eyes scanned over her critically, just like when she’d first arrived. 

“Follow me.”

Gloria did. Neither of them spoke as they walked along a dirt trail that eventually gave way to fields. Bell walked along the uneven earth like it was her house; not a single misstep or stumble. Gloria could hardly keep up; when they’d finally stopped, she wanted to cry in relief. When she got a good look at the bottomless, pitch black hole cave mouth in front of them, the tears quickly turned to  _ terror. _

“I want you to stick close to me. Don’t go off on your own once we go in. And for the love of  _ god,  _ Gloria- don’t do nothin’ to make him upset.”

She eased herself into the mouth. She made it a few steps before turning back to Gloria and motioning her forward.

“I thought you said we weren’t supposed to go down here?” 

“Well, this is a special exception. Business trip.”

She didn’t want to follow her. Something about the hole made everything seem  _ wrong.  _ It was like something primal in her activated at the mere sight of it. But again, something even deeper in her compelled her forward. It was like she was in a trance; something felt like it was calling to her from the depths. Mama Bell had grabbed a lantern and was lighting their path. The walls oozed. When she’d taken a moment to inspect them further, she’d seen bits of viscera clumped and hanging like mold from the walls. Jutting fragments of bones poked out like spikes. Eventually, they found a door; large, ornate, the metal glowed in the pale light of the full moon. Mama Bell turned to her and opened it.

She said something. Gloria could hear  _ something  _ come out of her mouth. But it was like all the air in the room had vanished. She could  _ see  _ what was in front of her; Gloria’s eyes were wide open, and she could parse blobs of color as they moved. But it was overwhelming. Blinding. Like someone turnin’ the lights on after bein’ in the dark for a long, long time. It hurt her to behold it, and she was vaguely aware of Mama holding her arms as she braced her for something-

-A seering, shooting pain ripped through her head.

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When Gloria woke Mama Bell was gone.

The room around her was unfamiliar. It smelled of rot-  _ hospital  _ rot. The smell of puss and ooze, of wounds and bone and grime that came with the failing human body. Blood was so thick in the air that she could taste it on her lips, the rich metallic flavor making her feel like she was choking on it. She twitched; tried to move her arms, only to find that her hands were being secured by some kind of metallic cuff bolted to a table. A medical table.

“Aw, fuck.”

“YOU ARE AWAKE.”

Gloria about jumped out of her fucking skin. She flailed as much as she could while restrained as she tried to figure out where this fucker was. The words had sounded so close to her, like the speaker was hovering an inch away from her ear.

“Who- Who’s there?”

“YOUR NEW BENEFACTOR.” The voice was loud and soft, grating and soothing. It was sensory overload incarnate. Out of the corner of her eye something glinted; she could very vaguely make out something long, something  _ sharp  _ moving along a table.

“WE HAVE MUCH TO DISCUSS....”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah shut up this is technically getting the plot started let me live. you wanna see gay shenanigans with the murder bunch you gotta sit through long character backstory for their gay mom fuck you


	5. pov your at an ihop at 2 am and theres some really weird girl and her tired looking brother shoved into the booth across from you and she comes over to your table and starts talking about memes she found on ifunny what do you do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James gets ready for his special night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> borger

This diner’s food tasted like  _ shit. _

Maybe the two of them were just spoiled by Mama’s cooking, but the burgers on their plates tasted off. Soggy. Like they were eighty percent grease and only twenty percent patty. The fries were rubbery and burnt at the same time, somehow. The jukebox shoved into the corner was playing some loud western bullshit everyone in town seemed to go crazy over. And worst of all? The group shoved into the booth across from them had been giving James and Baby the eye the entire time they’d been here.

“So then I was all like ‘whadda  _ mean  _ I got blood on ya, mister? This is just some ketchup! See?’ and then i licked it right off the guy’s arm an-”

Baby stopped. At first, she was a little confused; James had been begging to hear this story for days now and he wasn’t even paying attention. She was about to smack him for his lack of investment until she followed his eyes. Ah. He hadn’t broken eye contact with the odd group in the corner; his brows were knit in concentration. His lips were pursed in a tight line. She could feel his leg bouncing under the table. Baby’s smile faltered.

“Those guys givin; you weird vibes too? Thought it was just me .”

“ _ Hell _ no. They look  _ so  _ out of place. It’s not even funny. They’re in a fucking diner in  _ suits.” _

James took a sip of the soda he’d ordered and poked at his plate. Even after he diverted his attention he could  _ feel  _ them looking at him. At them both. It was infuriating; he could almost feel his blood boiling.

“You think they’re…”

“...Here on a business trip? No.” Baby finished. “‘Less their business is tryin’ to dig someone’s shit up for profit.”

“Then why are they staring at us? We ain’t done shit!”

Baby gave him an incredulous look. James felt his mood completely shatter as he giggled a bit. The two of them broke into laughter at how fucking stupid that was. They’d done  _ more  _ than enough to attract this kind of attention, and they both knew it. The question was  _ how  _ they were attracting it. They’d done everything on property. According to all the rules Mama laid down, they should be safe.

“Here. I’ll go snoop and see what exactly they’re here for-”

“-Baby, is that  _ safe?” _

“You’re kiddin’, right? We’re in  _ public,  _ James. They won’t do shit to me in broad fuckin’ daylight.” 

“But it’s nighttime-”

Baby blew a raspberry at James and started to shimmy her way from her seat. James watched her brace herself; she cleared her throat and twitched her face a bit. Her smile widened, became something so obviously forced it was a wonder men ever fell for it. The way her lips pulled back and highlighted her teeth reminded him of a coyote, and her  _ eyes.  _ Her eyes were so wide and he could’ve sworn her pupils had dilated like something about to pounce. It scared the everloving shit out of him, even now, and he could only watch as she all but skipped her way to the booth. 

“Hiya!” Baby’s voice was a high pitched squeal. The suited men regarded her with cold apathy; the same intense, studying look. Nothing had changed. Baby, for what it was worth, seemed unaffected.

“Mind if I take a seat? Brother’s a rea fuckin’ snoozefest over there... “ She rolled her eyes. Without even waiting on an answer she grabbed a chair and dragged it-loudly-over to their table. The men’s looks had changed from one of indifference to an interested shock at her boldness. Without missing a beat Baby grabbed a glass of water one of them was nursing and took a large swig.

“So.. If I may be so bold to ask, what brings you fine specimens out to our lil’ neck of the woods?” 

The men at the table exchanged skeptical looks. The one nearest to Baby- the same one who’s drink she’d swiped- cleared his throat.

“Business.”

“What kind?”

The group looked incredulous.

“Work related. Can we help you, ma’am?”

So polite. So formal. Baby batted her eyes and gave the best look she could.

“Just curious is all! Don’t see many guys ‘round here in fancy suits like these uns’.” Baby’s tone was slow. Her accent seemed stressed, somehow, and she kept giving them this big eyed look like she didn’t know how to even  _ breathe  _ on her own. She was trying to project an aura of stupidity- like she was some dumb bimbo looking for a guy to take home. And it was  _ working. _ The guys smirked at her hokey draw. The one closest to her slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer.

“Well, honey, we’re here on  _ very  _ important business.” 

“ _ Really?”  _ Baby sounded amazed. The guys all laughed a bit at her forced astonishment, apparently unaware of the way all of her teeth were barred when she smiled. Like a wild animal about to rip something’s throat out.

“Yeah! We’re tryin’ to investigate a murder.”

James choked on his drink from across the room. Baby seemed completely unphased. 

“A  _ murder?”  _ She gasped. “Oh my god! Around  _ here?”  _

“Yes! Ton’s and tons of cases around here. Real bad area, apparently. Would you happen to know about any of this?” Another guy across the table put his hand out cautiously. 

“What?”

“You really wanna blab about this to anyone who’ll listen?” The first man scoffed.

“You really think some…  _ chick  _ from a backwoods town is gonna do anything with it? Here.”

He passed a folder towards her. Baby opened it and was met with blurry photo after blurry photo of what looked to be a man. He didn’t look too tall, from what she could tell through the pixels, but he had longish hair. He was stocky, with a wide frame and-

She felt a pit of fear shoot through her gut.

Baby swallowed that pit. She didn’t let her smile falter. She looked towards the men, eyes still wide and smile still  _ painfully  _ tight and laughed.

“You boys lookin’ for the skunk ape? Know an ol’ fucker up the road who says his wife got it on wi-”

“-Jesus.” One of them spat. “You were worried about this  _ thing  _ blabbin’? Think’s it’s some kinda skunk!”

The entire table erupted. Even the one next to Baby cackled a bit. She tried her best not to let her anger be visible, but holy  _ fuck  _ she wanted to gut them all on the fucking  _ spot.  _

“Ma’am, afraid we aren’t lookin’ for that.” The man cleared his throat after they’d finished laughing. He gave Baby a sort of look she’d expect see from a preschool teacher to a child; soft, pitying, eyes full of sympathy for someone they considered lesser. “It’s a man who we think mighta’ killed my client’s daughter. He’s from round’ here, and these are the only photographs we’ve been able to capture from private security cameras.”

“Uh huh. That why they look all blurry?” 

“Afraid so. We know he’s local, and even have a few physical descriptors the footage can’t supply. He’s white, for one. Fat. Hairy.”   
  


“Lots a’ guys around here look like that!” Baby laughed. The pity look came back in his eyes as the man shook his head.

“True, true. We’d just like you to keep a lookout for now. It’s real serious- the girl was on her way somewhere with an associate or two and just up and disappeared. Should really be careful out there… It could be anyone.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Like that scruffy looking kid over at that other end.”

Everyone’s attentioned turned back to James. The joking atmosphere had completely dissolved; the men seemed tense, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Baby could see one reach into his coat pocket. Another grabbed the edge of the table as if he was about to get up. A click made Baby’s head buzz- someone was switching the safety off. She heard the one that had talked the most ask her if she knew him-

-She was up in a flash. Baby jumped from her seat and made her way back towards the table, pivoting half way between the distance to brandish her knife towards the four. The men’s faces froze as they eyed the blade. Baby was fucking  _ done. _

“Dunno what all you got on my brother here, boys, but keep movin’.” Her voice was deadly. None of them dared to move towards her; it was too late in the night to actually have anyone else besides them seated in the lobby. The staff knew to leave well enough alone and had all but made to the back by now. It was a standoff. She could see James brandishing his own knife from the booth.

“We didn’t think anything, ma’am.” The one furthest back grunted. “But this behavior sure is suspicious.”

“Clickin’ a gun under the fuckin’ table’s suspicious too. You got a permit for that big boy?” 

He fell quiet. None of them were cops, Baby could  _ tell  _ that. The ego was there, sure, but they didn’t have the temperament a lot of them seemed to carry. They were a little too rude, too abrasive, too  _ abusive  _ to their surroundings. Sure, all pigs were, but they at least tried to hide it for publicity’s sake. These guys? Out in the open and plain to fuckin’ see. They were even worse than the fuckin’ pigs in her book. These guys were some off brand Oscar Mayer Wieners 

“So I suggest that you and your friends take your happy lil’ asses out of here before I gotta come get Mr. Law to stomp your heads into the fuckin’ concrete.”

She would  _ never.  _ In her  _ life.  _ But they didn’t know that. And her bluff seemed to work; the wide eyed group slowly backed away to the exit. They never once took their eyes off her. 

The door chimed. They were gone. Baby hadn’t sat back down yet, standing guard over their booth like an invisible man could rush them at any moment. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she relaxed.

“We need to get back home. Now.”

That tone. James didn’t even fight her; he just shimmied his way out of his seat before throwing a wad of cash onto the table. Baby took him by the hand and shoved her way out of the door. A cautious look around the lot showed that they were alone. The others had up and left- scared shitless no doubt. They seemed awfully skittish for people supposed to poke around lookin’ for a murderer. 

“Keys.” It wasn’t a question. Baby was demanding them.

“You want-”

“Give me the fucking KEYS, James!” She growled. “You drive like a fuckin’ grandma! We need to get  _ home. Quickly.”  _

The car ride wise tense. Quiet. Baby kept throwing looks over her shoulder for something, anything, that could show they were being tailed. It was safe, thank god. They didn’t notice anything too out of the ordinary the entire drive. They’d made it back home and pulled in, parked the car, and all but ran into the house;

“Mama! We got a problem!” 

Of course she was in the living room. James hoped he wouldn’t have to see her face fall in real time, but apparently god hated them today. Mama looked worried sick in an instant.

“Wh- what’s wrong, hun? Did somethin’ happen while you was out?”

“These fuckers were bein’ creepy. Kept eyin’ us up the entire time we were there. Asked em’ what they were doin’ and they said they were investigatin; some sorta murder- think they thought James was the one?”

Mama’s worried expression switched from her daughter to James.

“What? We already dealt with that one boy! They closed the entire case…” She trailed off. “We would know if they opened it back up. I don’t see why anyone would try and find another case from another drifter…”

“I don’t think they’re law, Mama. Don’t feel like nothin’ private neither.” Baby sighed, tapping her foot in agitation. “Just felt odd! Somethin’ weird about them all! They didn’t have nerve like a serious bunch did. They got all freaked out easy.”

“I don’t like this. Not one bit.” Mama groaned. “James, you gotta stay here for a bit, alright? Nothin’s gonna happen to you here.”

James hadn’t been too worried up until this point. Seeing his family lose their cool like this was starting to  _ make  _ him lose it.

“How? Can you really guarantee that?” James pressed. Mama looked odd for a second; something in her eyes drifted, like she wasn’t here with them in the moment anymore. After a minute or so she finally blinked back to attention. Her attention turned to Baby.

“He hasn’t… been  _ down  _ yet, has he?” 

Baby shook her head. Both of the women looked to James; Baby’s look was analytical while Mama’s was somber. Almost regretful. Her hand found his shoulder and she squeezed.

“James.. Listen to me, son. You gotta do somethin’ that I was hopin’ we could put off for a bit longer. We can’t. You’re in danger and if you don’t do this somethin’ bad could happen.”

“What..-”

“Listen to me. We’re gonna go get Otis, and he’s gonna prepare you for somethin’. You’re gonna have to do it on your own, and find your way back alone. It’s gonna be a lot to handle. A  _ whole  _ lot. But trust me; you  _ need  _ to do this.” 

James tried to swallow the newly formed lump in his throat but found his mouth was dry. He gave a slow, stupid nod in response. The entire house moved in a blur; Mama waited with him while Baby went off to grab Otis. He finally descended after what felt like ages, his face painted haphazardly like he’d done for Halloween. It wasn’t his normal work. It looked rushed… like a hack job. Regardless, he made for the door and waved James over as he exited for the porch.

“Good luck, baby.” Mama cooed. Her hand finally left his shoulder. James felt her linger; out of the corner of his eye he saw her reach again for him. It felt so weird, watching her be so melancholy like this. What the fuck were they doing? He didn’t have much time to think it over; he could hear Otis throwing a tantrum outside. James forced himself through the door.

“About  _ fuckin’  _ time, boy! Keep up! I don’t got time to wait around with your sorry ass.”

He started down the path before taking a right and going into the field. The ground here was rocky, bumpy, full of holes and other hazards that made James trip and falter multiple times. Otis seemed completely unaffected by all of it, of course. Whenever James would hit the ground he’d look up and see him glare at him with a sort of disdain usually reserved for victims. 

“When you get to the hellmouth-”

“-Hellmouth?”

“ _ Hellmouth.”  _ Otis snarled. “Will you let me finish? Christ alive!  _ Anyway,  _ when you get to the hellmouth you need to go in alone. You’ll walk, alone, until you find a door.”

“How will I know if it’s the right door?”

“You’ll know.”

More silence. The fields were starting to give way to craggly rocks and dust. Otis slowed down and motioned James forward.

“When you open the door, shut your eyes. He won’t be ready when you first get down there. You don’t wanna see em’ when he isn’t ready.”

Before them was a pit. A big, gaping wound in the otherwise scenic countryside. 

“How-”

“ _ You’ll know. _ When you open your eyes, you need to make sure you’re as polite as possible. Old fucker’s real finicky when it comes to manners. You do anything to upset him you ain’t comin’ back.”

There were moans coming from somewhere inside the pit. James swore he could see something glowing further down.

“Ask him for his protection against whatever the hell you got yourself into now. Ask to be considered family. You shoulda done enough by now, but just ask for clarification’s sake. You ain’t been baptised yet.”

They were at the mouth’s edge now. The moaning was louder; James could almost make out words. It sounded so slurred, so muddled.

“...Baptised?”

“You gonna do that after  _ every  _ fuckin’ word I say? YES, baptised! It’s important that you remember at least  _ some  _ of this shit before you go down there. Don’t wanna listen to Rufus’ yowlin’ for the rest of my life cause’ you went and got yourself got. Now  _ go.  _ Get on with this damn thing.” 

Otis shoved James forward. It wasn’t even a shove, more like a light  _ nudge,  _ but it was still enough to send him spiraling into the pit. He slammed against the dirt and skid down into the hole. Deeper and deeper. Finally, the sensation passed, and he realized he’d stopped falling. The ground under him was moist, damp,  _ wet  _ with something. 

“Good luck, kid!” Otis called from above. James could only offer a weak wave before trekking further inside. He couldn’t see around him; the tunnel was dark, much darker than anything he’d seen before. There was a glow in the distance he was ambling for, but it seemed to move and get further and further away as he walked.

The sounds around him were terrible.  _ Horrific.  _ The moans had been replaced by screams. Some of them sounded like they were on top of him, beside him, under him, in front of him- it was  _ overwhelming.  _ Complete overstimulation. Just when he thought he’d just scream fuck it and run, he bumped into something cold. Something metal. 

A door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im basically imagining like.... smalltown diner mixed with an ihop. because ive been to an ihop like 5 times in the last 2 weeks and lemme tell you brother that shits rough. you get in there and there like you want some rooty tuttie pancakes? some fucking cinnamon roll pancakes? cheesecake pancakes? and im just like dude i want a philly cheesesteak. and there like brother you can get pancakes as a side you want those? and im like what??? dude thats a sandwhich?? and there like its just a question you want them or no? and its 2 am. i just got back from a long ass road trip. everyones tired. and i know for a fact god isnt with me at the current moment. so i say yes. to make a VERY long story short i think every ihop is somewhere between the 4th and 5th layers of hell and if you ask for any of the special pancakes you just get stuck there for eternity or something
> 
> anyway yall like this? are you having fun?


	6. wombo combo 1953 version

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback. Gloria paints her room with help from a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that upsmash, oh zhu poor zhu, happy feet wombo combo, that ain't falco, that ain't falc... ohhhh OOOH OOOH OOOH OHHHHHHHHHHHH!! OHHHH!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!! OHHHH! , WHERE YOU AT????? WHERE IS YOU AT?? OHHH! OHH! WHERE YOU AT??? oh oh my god WOMBO COMBO oh get your ass whooped, wow

1953.

She was fucking pregnant.

Gloria really fucked it this time.  _ Literally.  _

The office was behind her; she hadn’t moved off the front steps yet. She’d been here for twenty minutes or so. A dumb sort of shock kept her glued to the front steps, and she would have stayed there if she hadn’t felt a drive to finish this. A phone booth was across the street and she felt her legs move on their own, clammy hands found the booth’s handles and she almost fell inside. She had to think,  _ really  _ think to remember his number.

“I’m tellin’ you to get rid of it.” Rufus growled from the other end of the line. Her gaze was fixed at the corner store across the street, out the window in front of her. She didn’t wanna be here. The phone booth felt so muggy, so hot and sticky that it had to be as close to hell as she could get.

“Gloria. Am I clear?  _ Deal with this.”  _

The line clicked off and the grating dial tone blasted her ear drums. She felt sick; from the baby or her one night stand, she wasn’t quite sure. With a clunk she put the phone back on it’s crook. There wasn’t much of a description she could give to what she was feeling. It was just  _ numb.  _ A complete void. She gave the phone one last look before turning to the door. She knew what she had to do.

Weeks. Months. Everything bled together in some sort of soup, leaking together as the year stretched on. It was summer now, and the house was as busy as ever. Nothing seemed to change here. The trees never lost their leaves, the flowers never wilted, and even the girls always seemed to stay the same for the most part. It was peaceful. Nice and quaint. Gloria had found that Bell’s word was true; as long as she dealt with that thing’s  _ cravings  _ she was safe. In an odd way, she’d built up a family of sorts with her girls.

“Mama…” One of them called from the living room. She was new; more timid than most of the others that were in the house. “That man’s back again.”

Obviously, men in the house coming and going was nothing new. But ones here for her specifically were usually business trips, or…. 

Gloria gasped.

“Is it him? Johnny?” Her voice was almost a  _ squeal.  _ She could hear him thunk his way across the hall to her room. Gloria almost tripped over herself in a rush to get to the door; he beat her to it, opening it a crack and peering around the door.

The fucker hadn’t even taken his greasepaint off yet.

“Glory…” He eased his way inside and embraced her. His embrace was like a vice; tight, all encompassing. He took her in as she nestled against him; the way she smelled, the feeling of her against him, the swell of her stomach-

-oh fuck.

Cutter pulled away almost immediately.

“I grabbed ya kinda rough.” He gasped. “Your stomach-”

“It’ll be  _ fine,  _ John.” She sounded exasperated. “Just cause’ I’m with child don’t mean I’m made of glass all a’ sudden.”

“Regardless.” He shifted a bit and grabbed her from behind. With a bit of effort, she was off the ground and cradled against his chest bridal style. Gloria squealed again as he paraded her around the room like some sort of trophy.

“Just wanna make sure you’re all safe.”

“John-!” Gloria cackled. With a plop he dropped her to the bed. 

“You’re in your second trimester now, girl. You gotta be  _ careful.  _ Stay in bed.” He crossed the room and climbed in right next to her. A kiss on her neck. Her head. Her chest. Gloria couldn’t stop her giggling until he pressed a kiss right against her lips. 

“I’m  _ fine.”  _ She insisted. 

“Cause’ you’re in bed now.” 

“No, because I’m goin’ into town and seein’ the doc about all thi-”

A crack. The front door. There were voices out in the living room, loud and agitated. She could hear her girls shout something at a new voice. One she didn’t recognize. Gloria felt herself bristle.

“Somebody get upset about a visit?” Cutter ventured. Mama shook her head slowly. He was starting to tense too; she could  _ feel  _ it.

“No.. I don’t- I don’t think that’s-”

“The HELL IS SHE?” The voice shook the walls of Gloria’s room. Cutter shifted immediately, putting himself in front of her like some sort of human shield. There was more thunking. Much quicker than Cutter’s steps had been, much  _ angrier.  _ Before they had time to do much more the door swung open, and looming in the doorway was Rufus. His entire body shook with rage as he looked them over; focusing primarily on the bump of her stomach.

“Gloria.” His voice wavered. His nostrils  _ flared _ . His eyes had nothing but contempt for the girl in front of him. “Thought I told you to fix this.”

“I am.” Gloria’s voice was firm. She was scared out of her damn wits but she wasn’t gonna let him shake her from this.

“Your stomach begs to differ.”

“You got some sorta fuckin’ problem, buddy?” Cutter shot from the bed. “Bargin’ into a woman’s room unannounced-

“-Stay outta this. You got this whore to yourself now, but that don’t mean this concerns you.”

Cutter let out a growl. 

“Don’t call her that.” 

“Am I wrong?” Rufus let out a nasally sounding laugh that made Gloria’s ears want to bleed.

. “Do you know where you are right now, buddy? A fuckin’  _ brothel.  _ What do you think she’s doin’ in here? Givin’ sunday school lessons to the local kids? She got you pussy whipped son.”

“She wants to keep it-”

“-She can go an’  _ fuck  _ herself. That’s my seed in her, and I’m not lettin’ somethin’ of mine come into the world through… through  _ that.”  _ Rufus motioned towards Gloria labored look of disgust. She was something dirty. Something  _ disgusting.  _ A stain on his otherwise spotless record of lovers with living, growing proof of their union festering inside her. 

“She’s damaged goods. You really wanna take this? After she's got some bastard in her? Pathetic.”

“Do you good to watch your fuckin’ mouth.” Cutter’s voice was shaking now.

“Or what, clown boy? You gonna give me some of that greasy slop you hand out to those yuppie tourists that pass through town? Wait, fuck, that’s an idea! Whatever the  _ fuck  _ comes outta her you can put up in that museum of yours! Freak’ll fiit right in-”

That was  _ it. _

She didn’t feel herself leave the bed. She didn’t feel herself run at him, lunge like some sort of animal going for the kill. Her memory came in bursts, like a sort of dream; her hand going down. Coming back up. Screaming, screaming until her vocal cords felt like they’d shred. The hot, sticky feeling of blood coating her hands, her arms, her legs, her face, her feet-

The image of Rufus, the man who’d put her through so much worry, so much  _ torment  _ these last few months, a blood puddle under her. His nose was crooked. His eyes were bloodshot; wide, the pupils were so large it looked like the entire thing was just  _ black.  _ Rufus seemed dazed, doreintented. He had to have a concussion by now, if not  _ worse. _

“Wh- wha- I can’t-” He stuttered like an idiot. He coughed up some thick globs of bloody phlegm in his panic.

She didn’t respond. Gloria just glared down at him with enough hate to burn a hole through his head- not that he could see her, but by  _ god  _ she hoped he could feel it. The pathetic lout twitched and grabbed around him wildly, frantically, hoisting himself up and snarling as he swung a hand in her general direction. He missed. Another try, somewhat closer this time. Finally, he stumbled towards her and felt with a hand- touching her shoulder- and his free hand wound back an-

BANG.

The sound was deafening. Gloria squeezed her eyes shut right as the hand had gotten close. The bang had sounded like a bomb going off; making her ears ring until there was nothing but faint screaming, barely anything she could comprehend. She opened her eyes in a panic, blinking globs of  _ something  _ out of her eyelids; it was sticky. A hand wiped at her eyes, her face, and she finally took in the room around her. Fragments of skull and brain matter littered the door to her left. An eye hung limply from the shattered skull of her ex-lover, reduced to a pulpy mess before her. Half of his jaw was missing, leaving the bottom jutting out like an underbite. Gloria was absolutely  _ coated  _ in gore.

She puked. Retched right on top of the disgusting mess. Her ears were still ringing too loud to hear much of anything, but she could  _ feel her throat _ waver as she screamed. 

“-......Swang on you, and I panicked an- Fuck, I’m sorry- Jesus christ-”

The ringing had finally started to ease. Above her, Cutter hovered with tears in his eyes, looking like he’d seen a ghost. Gloria got to her feet on weak knees and was immediately taken into his arms, held like something precious. To be protected. 

“I’m so fuckin’ sorry Glory.” His voice was raw, rough with emotion as he sobbed. His paint was smearing in an ungodly mess. “I got a real bad trigger finger and a temper and he was swingin’ at you an-”

“It’s alright.” She mumbled. Truth be told, Gloria was in a daze. A fugue state. She couldn’t understand what had just happened in front of her. In all reality, she  _ wasn’t  _ alright. This  _ wasn’t  _ ok. There was bits of organs all over her  _ fucking bedroom.  _

“We’ll get him and take him out back to the field.” Cutter’s words flew out of his mouth, stumbling over himself as he rushed to form a plan. “We’ll get those clothes off an’ burn em’. Scrub the hell outta the room so they can’t trace this back to you, alright? An’ if anythin’ happens I did it. You ain’t gotta worry, Glory. It’s all me.  _ All  _ of it.”

The best Gloria could do was nod her head like some kind of idiot. He seemed to have an easy time coming up with a plan for this, and she wasn’t sure if she should be worried about that or not. Cutter helped her work her over her shoulders and into a pile he’d dubbed the ‘burn the fucking evidence’ pile. It was quickly joined by some linen, a few drapes that had been splattered, some blankets- really, most of the fabric in the damn room.

They’d found an old sack at the back of her closet that they could use for the body. The work was  _ disgusting _ ; the head and neck had been reduced to goo, so they had to  _ scoop  _ the damn thing into the bag. Gloria had to stop multiple times to get sick again, and even Cutter seemed to be a bit green in the face.

“Mama? You alright in there?” A new girl’s nasally voice chimed from the other side of the door. No doubt the entire damn house was crowded around her bedroom door by now.

“We’re fine in here, darlin’.” Cutter rasped “Just a business meetin’. We’ll be done before too long, just go and do what you gotta do.”

Gloria knew her girls wouldn’t believe any of this for a fucking second. They knew her better than this; they were  _ smarter  _ than that. What she hoped for at least was that they’d take the hint and back off for a short while. At least enough time to let them finish cleaning this fucking mess. Minutes passed and there was no other questions, no other commentary from the other side of the door. 

They tied the bag up with a knot. Then another. Then another. The thing was practically quadruple knotted, sealed tighter than a fucking drum. Cutter sighed as he looked over the rest of the room; there was blood caked almost everywhere still. 

“So… You got a mop?”

Gloria still felt like she was on autopilot. Did she have a mop? A fucking  _ mop?  _ Of course she did. Such a stupid question. She nodded her head and tried to fight back another round of vomit.

Soap and water. Soap and water and scrubbing with a rag on hands and knees and it was gone. The wash water was red. It had bits of flesh, chunks of meat floating in it that they’d missed. It made the foamy mix look like a sort of soup. But the floor looked clean. Cleaner than it’d been at the start of the day, even. It seemed so surreal that it was just gone in a poof like that. It wasn’t  _ right  _ that it was just gone.

“If they come pokin’ around here, you tell em’ you ain’t seen him in months.” Cutter lectured as he dumped the water out back. It trickled down the hill and into a ditch, leaving a weird red trail behind. Another refill on the bucket to wash the rest down. She repeated over and over and over and over an-

“Glory.” He had a hand on her shoulder now. The bucket dropped. Cutter’s expression was soft.. He looked… pained. Concerned. He swallowed a lump in his throat.

“You need to get inside. Lay down. Get some rest.”

“I don’t wanna… John- I don’t- I don’t feel safe bein’ on my own right now.” 

She knew she had the girls, an entire house of them to keep her company. But none of them were her equal. She was  _ Mama.  _ She was the  _ matron.  _ She couldn’t talk about killing with any of them. Cutter sighed. He  _ knew  _ exactly what she was thinking.

“Fuck. I’ll stay with ya, Glory. You want me in the room with ya?” 

She nodded. 

“In the same bed? That alright with you?”

Another nod. Cutter took a breath. 

“Well alright then. You lead the way and we’ll go inside.”

She had only really wanted him to stay the night. Realistically speaking, with his gas station to worry about he  _ couldn’t  _ stay longer. So when he showed up the next night, worn down and greasepaint still smeared on his face after a long day she was taken aback. He plopped down next to her and held her like he’d done the night before and Gloria didn’t question it. She didn’t question it the third night either. Or the fourth. It continued, day after day, until a week had gone by. Both of them were waiting for it; the pin to drop, for someone to say something and lead them back here. For everything to hit the fan. Not just the murder, but her brothel, her business. Everything would go up in smoke in an instant.

The seventh night was different.

He was still there, nestled behind her with a thick arm over her chest like a sort of security blanket. It was her  _ dreams  _ that were different. Ever since that night she’d had nightmares of killing; her hands red. The walls were red. Everything was red, bloody, oozing and leaking everywhere like a fucking horror house. Gloria had woken up screaming every time, and Cutter had woken up calming her right after. But tonight? Tonight was different.

She was in a dimly lit, dingy looking cave. Monitors of some kind showed static all around her. A chair, like a dentist’s, only with straps and chains to restrain. A medical table with some sort of light above it. Everything was in an odd sort of red light, everything glowed with an eerie sort of evil. 

Gloria knew  _ exactly  _ where she was.

“EVENING.” The voice radiated around her, even worse than before now that she was dreaming. She shut her eyes as the sensation made her headache. When she opened them, the doctor was hovering above her like some sort of twisted looking hellspider. How did she even approach this? There was etiquette, as Bell had stressed, when dealing with him. He was fickle. A primadonna. 

She didn’t give a rat’s fucking ass at this point.

“Hello again Mr. Satan.” Gloria offered casually. Truth be told, she didn’t get why he was here  _ now  _ of all times. It’d been five years since she’d taken this place over from Bell, and not  _ once  _ had the motherfucker tried to sneak into her dreams. Satan, if he was upset, didn’t show it; but in reality how could she tell? His face was a scared mess of tissue and bone for fuck’s sake!

“LET ME CUT TO THE CHASE- YOU WON’T REMEMBER MUCH FROM THIS CONVERSATION, ANYWAY. YOU ARE ANXIOUS?” It wasn’t a question so much as an oddly worded observation. Gloria nodded her head slowly.

“Yeah… One way to put this mess I guess.”

The Doctor moved to a table in the corner and hunched over it, working fervently on some fleshy… thing. She saw a limb twitch and spasm as he pulled on something red and ropey- a tendon? A muscle?

“WHY IS THAT.” 

“Well, I went and killed a man the other day with the help of a guy I sorta fancy. Got his brain splatter all over a nice dress I just bought. And now I’m gonna get thrown in jail for doin’ it while I got his child growin’ inside me.”

Gloria couldn’t help but laugh. Vocalizing the past week made everything seem so fucking  _ surreal.  _ She watched as the Doctor turned,  _ literally turned his head a full 180 degrees like an owl.  _ His face was once again unreliable, but somehow she knew he was confused by the way he stared.

“WHY WOULD YOU GO TO ‘JAIL’?” He  _ sounded  _ confused at least. Gloria stopped her laughter and looked at the demonic thing in front of her like he was stupid.

“I killed a man.” 

“BUT YOU DID SO HERE, NO? DO YOU NOT REMEMBER OUR RULES?”

“The rules…-”

The doctor sighed telepathically. 

“YOU MAY COMMIT WHATEVER CRIMES YOU WISH AS LONG AS YOU SERVE ME. THIS INCLUDES MURDER, DEAR GLORIA. YOU DID IT IN THE HOUSE. THAT’S WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE PROPERTY.”

Gloria never thought it could be possible to sound so exasperated without physically moving your mouth, but here they were. It took her a moment to process it in her dreamy-haze, but the weight of his words finally dawned on her. 

“You mean I’ll be alright?”

The backwards head nodded in at her with vigor.

“YES.”

Gloria wanted to  _ cry. _

“NOW I MUST BE GOING. TRY TO REMEMBER AS MUCH AS YOU CAN OF THIS CONVERSATION. YOUR BRAIN IS EXTREMELY SMALL, TERRIBLY FLAWED. YOU WON’T REMEMBER MUCH, BUT TRY AND REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE SAFE. I WOULDN’T ALLOW ANYTHING LESS.”

The scene shifted; the room fell away to a black void. The floor underneath her gave out and she was falling, falling through it, through space-

She woke with a jolt. Cutter bolted upright with her, eyes wide as he hugged her against his chest. Gloria panted, taking in his scent as she came back to her sense. Back to reality.

“Hun.” She grunted through a mouthful of shoulder. 

“Wha’ is it, Glory?” 

“I think we’re gonna be fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like to think that dr satans body is made of silly putty and he can ust do whatever he wants with it like a cat or something. you see this thing squeezing his way into a box if it fits he sits


	7. family bonding time : )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James gets a proper introduction to his grandpa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey gamers were getting into the thick of it now huh

Everything sounded  _ off.  _

It was too loud. Too many noises at once; scuttling, scraping, metal shifting, metal clicking, breathing, screaming- it was like someone had opened Pandora’s box. James remembered what Otis had said about opening his eyes, and about how he’d  _ know  _ when to. It seemed impossible about how that would  _ ever  _ be safe. Like a sort of song it built and built and built-

Then it stopped.

Gradually, the sounds eased. It wasn’t like they stopped; it was more like turning a TV set down. Gradually, until finally they were muted, except for the metallic clicks and some shuffling. There was a presence in front of him. He  _ felt  _ it.

James felt like the air had become electric. It reminded him of how it was back home, before a storm came. Cautiously, he let an eye crack open. Whatever was in front of him was so alien, so  _ inhuman  _ it made his head hurt.

The thing was pale. Ghastly pale, paler than Otis was. It looked like a corpse; the skin was dry, cracked over bones that James could  _ swear  _ he could hear creak as he moved. The face was a mess of scar tissue, its mouth was nonexistent- like someone had blurred the entire face into one mass. There were long metal…  _ things  _ on its back that moved with him, like an extra set of limbs-

“HELLO, JAMES.” 

Oh  _ god.  _ It knew his name. It shouldn’t have come as such a shock, but hearing it vocalize itself in a whisper, in a shout- both at the same time- was maddening. 

“I’VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU FOR SOME TIME. SO NICE OF YOU TO FINALLY COME DOWN TO VISIT.”

“Yeah…” 

There was an awkward sort of silence between the two. How did he even begin to approach something so otherworldly?

“YOU’VE BECOME ONE OF MY FAVORITES..”

That was enough to dissolve what little composure he had left. 

“What?” 

“FAVORITE. YOUR LITTLE PRESENT YOU GAVE ME JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO WAS SO  _ QUAINT _ . I’VE ALREADY DONE A LOT WITH HIM.”

One of the doctor’s metallic limbs pointed towards the center of the room. There was a surgical table in a mess of snaps and restraints. Bound to the metal was a mess of flesh, so mutilated James couldn’t quite make out what it was supposed to be. The doctor seemed to pick up on his confusion and moved- his  _ movements  _ didn’t even look human, too fluid, too animated. It hurt his brain too watch; by the time he finally looked back at the table he’d worked it upright. The victim’s face was visible and James almost winced.

Ryan’s eyes were still alert, at the very least. The rest of his body was torn to bits; he was opened down the middle, with a thick incision opening his stomach and chest to the world. His organs were removed and pinned to a metal extension that swung out from the table as a sort of attachment, like some kind of display.

“I’M USING HIM FOR A MEDICAL STUDY. ONLY TWENTY YEARS SINCE MY LAST DISSECTION, BUT SO MUCH HAS CHANGED. THE RISE IN PROCESSED FOODS HAS  _ DECIMATED  _ THE HUMAN BODY.”

James didn’t say much. The rule about manners was still something he was trying to remember, but holy  _ fuck _

“I KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE.”

That was enough to jar him out of his near panic attack. The doctor’s eyes were like a hawk, glaring at him from across the room with a sort of critical glint. This is how it had to feel to be a prey animal.

“Yo- you do?”

“I HAVE EYES EVERYWHERE, JAMES. I CAN SEE MORE THAN YOU ASSUME. SO LET’S GET TO THE BUSINESS AT HAND, SHALL WE?”

The prompt was essentially a demand. James shuddered a bit before willing himself to cut to the damn chase.

“I’m worried about… Those guys in town. That think I murdered someone.”

“YOU HAVE. MULTIPLE PEOPLE.”

He wasn’t  _ wrong.  _

“But how do they have proof?” James asked with a hint of frustration edging into his tone. He needed to be careful, he knew, but fuck this was starting to get on his damn nerves.

The doctor took a large scalpel and started to hack along the skin of Ryan’s face. If he still had his vocal cords at his disposal Ryan would be  _ deafening. _

“MURDER HAS MANY DIFFERENT CONTEXTS. SOMETIMES ITS LITERAL, AS IN THE EXTINGUISHING OF LIFE. OTHER TIMES IT SIMPLY MEANS THE DEATH OF SOMETHING FIGURATIVE.”

“What-”

“MY PROTECTION HAS EXTENDED TO EVERY MURDER YOU’VE COMMITED. EVERY CRIME, EVERY TRANSGRESSION, IS FORGIVEN IN THE LEGAL SENSE. AS IS THE CONDITIONS OF THE PACT.”

“Then how do these people apparently have something on me? Is it even me?”

Ryan’s face was almost completely off now. It wasn’t just cutting around the edges of the piece and peeling it back; the doctor had to cut it all the way off. It was so intricate, like shaving meat at a deli counter. James was almost transfixed by it.

“THIS WORK IS HARD. I HAVE TO BE VERY CAREFUL IN THE SEPARATION LESS I PUNCTURE THE MUSCLE.” 

Satan’s tone was oddly passive. Like a teacher going over coursework. James could see the blade glint from under the skin of Ryan’s cheek as he sawed.

“What do you plan… For the face? Why is it coming off?”

“FOR AESTHETICS SAKE. THE BOY’S GOT TOO MANY BLEMISHES. IT MAKES ME UPSET TO LOOK AT… A SIDE EFFECT OF HIS POOR DIET.”

Satan growled and with a final tug the face squelched from Ryan’s head. It was odd to see the muscles underneath with no skin; they looked wet. Clay like, squishy. 

“I DON’T LIKE IMPERFECTIONS IN MY WORK. I DON’T LIKE DEVIANCE FROM MY ROUTINE.”

Satan held the face up to the light, examining it like a prize. The doctor seemed lost in his own world, stretching the skin like a toy. 

“Doctor- the family told me-” James voice shook a bit as he watched him peel back a bit of gristle from the inside of the skin- “Told me to ask for protection. From those guys in town. From whatever the hell is going on over there. They want me to be considered family-”

“-YOU ARE FAMILY. AS LONG AS YOU STAY ON THIS LAND, YOU ARE PROTECTED. MY INFLUENCE ONLY SPREADS SO FAR IN THAT REGARD.”

James felt himself breathe for the first time since he’d gotten down here. There was still one more thing to ask, though; one that he  _ still  _ didn’t know the full context around.

“They told me… To ask for a baptism.”

  
  


The doctor turned to him. His eyes looked James over, up and down, like he was analyzing a cut of meat at the butcher’s shop. The same hawkish look, predatory and analytical, that made James want to run back to the surface.

“THAT WILL COME IN TIME. I HAVE IT IN MY PLANS.”

“Plans?”

“PLANS.”

The doctor placed the face down on a rolling metal table next to the chair and turned back to Ryan’s paralyzed form. James couldn’t see the poor thing anymore as he loomed, metal appendages working away on lord knows what.

AS I SAID, JAMES, I DON’T LIKE TO DEVIATE FROM MY ROUTINE. I COULD DO IT NOW, BUT YOURS WILL BE DIFFERENT. AND IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN WHEN IT’S MEANT TO.”

“Different… In a bad way?”

Silence. Satan’s arms still worked away at the body beneath him, but his head started to move. With a sickening sort of crunching squelch, his neck pivoted until his beady eyes were giving James the mother of all death glares.

“IT WILL HAPPEN WHEN IT’S MEANT TO. REMEMBER WHAT I’VE SAID TONIGHT. YOU ARE SAFE HERE. KNOW WHAT YOU RISK IF YOU LEAVE THE LAND, JAMES. NOW GET GOING. IT’S LATE. TRY AND MAKE IT OUT OF THE TUNNELS IN ONE PIECE.”

The words carried a weight of finality that James, even in his stunned stupor, knew would be stupid to ignore. He never broke eye contact with the Doctor as he backtracked to the door, only turning to the darkness of the tunnel once the door shut with a loud clang. The minute he knew the eyes were off him, he  _ ran.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is just like the weird 70s horror supernatural version of the family reunion when you get stuck with like your great grandpa or something who doesnt know your gay yet and your trying to have a convo about like idk sports or some shit while being polite but he doesnt know your some stupid faggot who cant even touch a fucking football without getting a sprain so your like haha fieldball sportsday and hes like. clocking you immediately but hes trying to not be bigoted but in that old white man way where hes still bigoted in a really kind of backhanded way. like you KNOW hes trying but its not enough bc trying for him is like damn i havent killed you for being yet how nice of me : ). what the fuck was i talking about? oh yeah my dr satan lore is weird hes basically a mutated demonic thing that moves like a old 30s cartoon. its weird as fuck idk


	8. that one vine of the brothers playing ping pong and one throws a paddle at the other so he gets up and chases him and the first brother starts shrieking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A homecoming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRlshAcfvyE this is the vine

“You know as well as I do that each of us’s gotta see him for ourselves. It’s the way.” 

Otis’ tone was grating. Know-it-all, cocky, shit eating as fucking always. He  _ knew  _ what had to happen here. He was the  _ only  _ one who did! The  _ only  _ one smart enough to understand the intricate rituals at work under the house and how to abide by them. Maybe it was his fault. Expecting the big oaf across the room to understand anything other than smoking meat and fixing cars was too much of him. Rufus was a big, brawny, know nothing  _ idiot- _

“YOU LET HIM WALK DOWN INTO THAT DEATHTRAP ALONE?” He roared, rushing towards Otis. His legs were long; it only took him a few steps before he loomed above the albino like some sort of omen. Otis blanched.

“YOU LET HIM  _ GO DOWN THERE,  _ WITHOUT  _ ANY  _ KIND OF HELP-”

A arm slammed against the wall behind them. Rufus had Otis trapped between the wall and his body. Whatever ego Otis had left hanging on was shattered as his brother looked ready to rip his throat out.

  
  


“-I-I can’t go down with em’!” Otis’ voice shook pathetically, “That’s against the rules-” 

  
  


“What I’m about to do to your fucking head is gonna be against the rules of nature you pale little  _ fuck-” _

RJ could feel a light sort of struggle near his back. He glanced behind him and saw his mother smacking his side in desperation.

_ “ _ Rufus!” Mama cried, “Please! He had no choice-”

RJ grabbed under Otis’ armpits and hoisted him up like a kid. Otis screeched and started flailing as Rufus thudded him against the wall. The impact sent a picture falling to the ground with a clatter. A meaty hand wrapped itself around Otis’ throat and squeezed.

“Ah fuck- He’s turnin’ purple!” Baby shouted from behind the group. Otis made a strangled wheeze as RJ pushed harder. One of his hands grabbed at a strand of hair as he tried pulling in vain. Nothing seemed enough to deter him from absolutely  _ destroying  _ Otis.

“Come on bro, I think he’s learned his lesson! You’re gonna make his head even more fucked up than it already is!” 

“RUFUS.” Mama shouted, “YOU LET UP ON HIM THIS INSTANT!”

Otis continued to flail and flop like a manic sort of puppet. The sounds he made, high pitched and breathless,  _ sounded  _ like one too. It would have been absolutely hilarious out of context. Mama had grabbed an iron fire poker and readied herself to swing it. Baby had squirmed her way between the two men to try and break them up, almost hanging off one of RJ’s arms to get him to drop everything. Maybe, if Otis made it through the night with a pulse, they’d all look back on this and laugh.

As for James, the entire scene looked absolutely  _ insane. _

“....Uh….”

The struggle ceased immediately. In an instant RJ pivoted on his heels. Otis fell to the ground in a heap as Rufus all but ran to James. It was like a wave crashing over him; Rufus’ arms snatched him off the ground and hefted him into the air in seconds. The hug crushed every bit of air he had in his lungs, making him sputter like an idiot as his boyfriend weeped above him like a baby. James would normally make fun of him for his theatrics, but the minute he pulled back to give him air he  _ saw  _ how red his face was. His eyes were splotchy, bloodshot, and he could feel RJ’s entire body shudder as he hiccuped pitifully. Whatever joke he had on his tongue evaporated. 

“Oh fuck, babe…... What happened?” Immediately after the words left his mouth Rufus put the sloppiest kiss he could on his forehead. Followed by another, and another-

“-You went all the way down to that fuckin’  _ pit  _ cause’ they told you too? Why didn’t you get- come get me or- or-”

“I had to do it,” he insisted, “babe, there’s people out there tryin’ to say I killed somebody-”

“-You have.” Rufus sniffled, “Multiple times.”

“Yeah… You aren’t wrong... “ James tried to keep his voice gentle. It hurt him to see RJ so torn up over something,  _ especially  _ him. His hand cupped his jaw as gentle as he could while he rubbed at his cheek with his thumb.

“They were tellin’ me bout’ that. And I panicked. Then you weren’t here. Then I panicked some more. Then they said you went down there an- an-”

“-You tried to kill your brother.” James finished for him. RJ nodded his head with a smile.

“I can’t feel my fuckin’  _ ass _ !” Otis shrieked. Mama tutted something under her breath as she hovered over him with a cool rag. Baby was trying to keep him laying still as Mama examined his neck for any signs of serious bruising. Already there were purple splotches peppering the pale skin there- him being an albino made him even more vulnerable to things like this. The bruising would be deeper, last longer- he may have  _ broken  _ something. 

RJ didn’t even seem to register the damage. 

“I’m just glad you’re ok. I don’t care whatever happened, you weren’t back here in the next couple’a minutes I woulda gone down there myself.”

“Woulda’ got your ass beat.” Otis snarled hoarsely from his corner. RJ swiveled his head back and glared. The room went tense again; it nearly boiled over, until James put a hand to Rufus’ jaw and turned his attention back to him.

“Hey- hey, babe. Stop that. I’m fine. He was right. You were kind of excessive with this.”

“I thought he killed you.”

“And he didn’t. He was doing what he had too, hun. Can you… maybe…” James motioned his head over to the battered figure behind them. Rufus made a noise, a clicking sound with his teeth that sounded something like a snake. 

“I’m sorry.” He growled. Otis popped his head up off the ground much to Mama’s chagrin.

“Fuck you, you stupid fuckin’ dickhole.”

It took them an entire ten minutes to get him up to his room. Otis yowled something about the pain the entire time; at first, they’d let it happen as it came. Everyone seemed to pity him a bit after the spectacle downstairs, no one less than Rufus. They let him whine as they helped him up the stairs, let him carry on as he was settled into his bed. By the time he’d started lecturing them like he was giving his a memoriam at his own funeral they were fed up. Mama got up suddenly and grabbed RJ by the arm, dragging him into the hall and slamming the door behind them. Baby and James sat awkwardly, half listening to Otis’ speech on the frivolity of life while also zeroing in on the verbal ass beating Mama was dishing out.

The door opened with a click.

“Come on. Downstairs.” Mama motioned Baby and James towards her, out of the room and into the hall. They followed obediently; there wasn’t any room to argue if they’d even  _ wanted  _ to. They filed onto the couch as she stood in front of them; eyes shut and she tried to steady herself. 

She breathed in a deep breath.

“Now that that’s settled,” She opened her eyes with a bright smile, like  _ nothing  _ had happened, “How did your visit go? Did he… Accept you?”

“He came back. He wasn’t accepted he wouldn’t be here right now.” Baby’s tone was pointed, not necessarily out of disrespect but to just state the obvious. Nonetheless Mama’s forced smile faltered as she glared at her daughter.

“He said I was family. And he said the rules applied to me too.” James quickly interjected before another argument could erupt.

“Then what-”

“-Mama, I dunno. I asked him that and he said somethin’ about murder being metaphorical sometimes and- fuck, it was a whole thing about  _ nothin’. _ ”

“He’s got a tendency to do that.” Mama sighed. She looked James over for a moment and shook her head.

“Did he say  _ anything  _ else that could be useful? Anything at all?”

“Something about waiting to baptise me? I dunno what that all’s even about but... He said he had a  _ plan  _ for me.”

This got RJ’s attention.

“Like  _ fuck  _ he’s got anything to do with you.” He snarled. Mama eyed him this time; a heated look down at him as he sat squeezed onto the couch.

“Rufus.” Mama’s voice was stern. “You need to watch your tone, boy. You don’t wanna say somethin’ you’ll regret.”

“You know what he does to people! You’ve  _ seen  _ that shit first hand, Mama! You really wanna let him have a  _ plan  _ for James?”

Silence. The two got into a sort of staredown, both of their eyes burning with a similar sort of fire that made the entire room feel like an inferno. Baby and James watched anxiously, waiting for the heat to break, waiting to see who would win. 

“I don’t  _ want  _ nothin’. I  _ have  _ to let things happen as they do, or else we’re all gonna be in for it. I’m sure that whatever he has in store for him won’t be too bad or else he woulda’ killed his ass when he went down there. You need to calm yourself, Rufus. There’s a reason we gotta abide by his rules, and if you try and interject yourself you’ll find out  _ why. _ ”

RJ went quiet. He glared up at his mother, but made no real effort to fight her further. It was pointless; he still didn’t agree, obviously, but what could he do? Raise hell against  _ Mama  _ of all people? He wouldn’t live to see the fucking fallout of that. A low snort was all he gave as he worked a hand around James back and pulled him in closer towards him like that could spare him from whatever fate he had coming.

“Now. We know that he wants to wait for you to be indoctrinated. We also know you’re safe here. The logical conclusion here is to just keep you at home until all this blows over.”

“But won’t they be able to find the house?” James asked. 

“Unlikely. Nobody can really find us out here unless we lead em’ here or there supposed to find us.”

“But- Marcus-”

“-Must have been a reason.” Mama finished. “Some kind of destiny thing for him to end up on our doorstep. Who the hell knows?”

“It was a test, obviously.” Baby shrugged from her end of the sofa, “I mean, why else would he have someone come up here right when you was gettin’ all comfy with us? Makes sense to me.”

_ Fuck.  _

“I guess that does make a bit of sense… Well, shit! Old fucker works in mysterious ways don’t he? Enough of that though. For the time bein’ you keep your ass parked in this house. That goes for all of you- nobody’s leavin’ less they got somebody with em’. That’s my orders.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isnt a chapter im super proud of it feels rushed and weird kinda but this is the last one before shit pops off. strap in folks


	9. everybody knows shit fuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything boils over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mama really doesnt deserve this shit man

They were everywhere.

Not at the house.  _ Never  _ at the house. Satan had kept his word, and as long as they stayed at the house they were safe. But they couldn’t  _ always  _ stay at the house; RJ had a job. Mama needed groceries, needed essentials. As much as they liked to act like they were self sufficient, the sad truth was they  _ needed  _ access to supplies.

So Mama let Baby go into town with Rufus. Just the two of them, there and back, no other stops. They’d returned three hours later to an absolute fucking earful.

“What on god’s green fuckin’  _ EARTH  _ took you three damn hours-”

“-Got followed.” Rufus’ grunt made Mama quiet down immediately. She rushed them inside and slammed the door behind her, locking every lock she could and shutting the drapes for good measure.

“They found us after we was leavin’ the store. Tailed us up to Cutter’s-”

“ _ You brought them to Spaulding?”  _ Mama shrieked. Her son stuck his hands up defensively.

“We didn’t realize it was them when we did!”

“Minute we looked out the front door and saw the van it clicked, Mama. He didn’t know.” 

“-They never followed us inside. They just stood an’ watched us through the windows with some sorta  _ thing  _ an’ left after awhile. Was real weird.” Rufus’ body language was stiff. He didn’t move, didn’t really look at anything in particular. His hands worked through his tangled mess of hair, running it through his fingers repeatedly. It was a motion Mama knew well; he only did this when he was  _ real  _ upset.

“-And  _ dangerous-”  _ Mama stressed as gently as she could. 

_ “-and not our faults.”  _ Baby tried to be the voice of reason.  _ Baby.  _ That alone should have shown the gravity of the situation; they were cornered. Trapped. Like a fucking stray in a backalley. Mama didn’t allow any trips out for another few days. They’d gotten enough with this last run to keep then for at least a week or two, maybe more if they stretched. They didn’t have any concrete proof that they were even  _ around  _ here anymore. The idea of it, the thought of them just lurking beyond the gate ready to snap them up at the drop of a hat made her nervous. And so they stayed; didn’t wander, didn’t leave the house. 

But being caged wasn’t something they could handle.

It was like hell. Mama and Tiny were both homebodies for the most part, and aside from the anxieties of their current situation they didn’t suffer much. Otis was mostly the same, only really missing the trips into town for alcohol or ‘people watching’. Baby and Rufus on the other hand? They were  _ losing  _ it.

Baby had always been a social animal. She’d needed people like people need air; even outside of the context of hunting, she’d just missed  _ people.  _ Talking to them. Asking them questions, picking their brains, making them  _ tick _ . Being locked up in the house was making her jumpy. She’d taken to dragging James with her everywhere just to have someone, something to do that wasn’t stare at a TV screen all night.

And Rufus. Poor, poor Rufus.

He’d called off work for the time being. It wasn’t worth the risk of going in right now- he didn’t really need the money, and even if he did the risk of whatever the hell this was wasn’t worth it. He’d been a moody mess ever since, moping and groaning around the house like the world's most dramatic ghost. 

If there was one benefit to all this it was the time he and James could spend together now. It’s all they seemed to have now- time. Time to pass while they stewed in the existential crisis they seemed to find themselves in. It was a sort of mutual discomfort, anxiety, dread, fear- all of it at once. But what was important was they were experiencing it  _ together _ . The entire  _ family  _ was, of course, but between James and Rufus it was that much more tangible. 

“Babe.” It’d been a week and a half since they’d been out. Rufus was hunched over the edge of the bed, staring out the window and into the night. It was a situation James caught him in a lot when he was overwhelmed. The moon was almost full; not quite there yet, but still bright enough to make everything outside a silverish-grey. 

Rufus didn’t say anything as James settled next to him. Not even a look to acknowledge he’d even  _ moved.  _ The man had shut down completely. James had seen him like this before, a few times at least; when he went, it was real hard to get him out unless he  _ wanted  _ out. It was easier to get blood out of a fuckin’ stone. With a sigh, James plopped his head against his shoulder and looked out the window with him. It was a nice night; the sky was clear, not too hot for a Summer night, a nice breeze…. It seemed idyllic. 

“I’m goin’ down with Mama tomorrow.”

It took James a second to process what he’d said. He didn’t move. Didn’t really make any attempt to say anything. Even if he could think of something, it wouldn’t be appropriate for the circumstance. He doubted mindless yelling about safety would make RJ that happy.

“I’ll be fine.”

It was like Rufus could read his mind. James could feel his arm around him now, pulling him closer in a half hug. James couldn’t bring himself to so much as  _ look  _ at him.

This was his worst fear. Not RJ leaving; the family being hunted. Trapped and cornered and then fucked over like wild animals. He always thought it’d be the law. Something overdramatic and gruesome, guns-blazing type shit where they’d all get blown to meaty chunks. The fact that it was some random group of hired goons seemed to be the ones to do it was somewhat anticlimactic.

“Really, hun. I’ll come back.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“You’re right. I can’t.” RJ admitted. “But the likelihood of something happening while I’m there-”

“-it’s already happened once. What’s stopping them from showing up again?”

“They coulda’ moved on. Lost interest.”

“Just like that?” James exclaimed, “Overnight? After they’d been haunting everyone like fucking ghouls for the last few weeks?”

Rufus knew, deep in his gut, that it was pointless to try and persuade him differently. James was too smart for that, and he loved him for it, but it made shit like this that much harder. They were running out of time- Mama wanted to leave for town around ten or so, and it had to be past three already. Arguing like this the entire night was pointless.

Rufus laid back on the bed and took James down with him. One arm worked the comforter over them both while the other cradled him in the nook of his body. It was tender. Soft. James felt like he fit into him naturally, like some kind of lost puzzle piece. 

That sounded corny. Ridiculously sappy. But there wasn’t really any other way to describe how his body felt against his. Like it was  _ meant  _ to be there next to him, nuzzled into his shoulder, his chest, holding onto him like he was the last thing he could touch in the entire world. James' eyes were wide, brimming with emotion as he looked up at him. It was a sort of understanding; something they both understood. 

This may be the last night of normality for  _ god  _ knows how long. 

Was this how it was? Before a fall? Did people even have enough time to notice before the plunge? This was crueler; they could both see it coming. They could see their demise on the horizon, as sure as the sun coming up in the morning, and were powerless to stop it. Time continued to tick forward. Ten in the morning was getting closer and closer. What did they do with what they had left? 

RJ pulled James in closer. James hesitated for a moment; he wanted to fight more. Wanted to try and convince him this was stupid, this was somethng that would end horribly. But it was clear that he wouldn’t listen. He was stubborn as shit; and James  _ loved  _ him for that. With a sigh he let go and relaxed completely. 

When James woke, the bed next to him was empty. The clock on the wall read a little past twelve-thirty. It didn’t surprise him that this is how it happened; he was expecting it, if anything. He still felt hollow regardless.

It’s not like Rufus was faring much better.

Crammed into the cab of his truck with Mama as they finished up what they’d set out for. The back of his truck was filled with grocery bags and boxes of supplies she’d grabbed as quickly as she could before rushing back to him, to family, to security. She was on edge; he could tell that much. Every once in a while Mama would twitch, bristle a bit and look behind her shoulder cautiously. Any car that stayed behind him for longer than a mile was suspect.

“I don’t think it’s nothin’ to worry about.” Rufus sighed. Mama would still stare at them in the rearview until they pulled off their road. It was maddening to see her like this. Dealing with it was giving him a headache, and as much as he loved his mother it was getting grating. Lucky enough for them they only had one more stop left to make before they could finally go back home.

The truck kicked up rocks as they rolled to a stop in the parking lot of Spaulding’s. 

“Why are we stoppin’ here again?” 

“Gotta talk to Cutter.” Mama muttered out quickly, “You just wait in the car, son. Won’t take me too long.”

Mama went for the door of the cab, reaching for the knob before stopping. She turned back to Rufus quickly and grabbed for him, pulling him down closer to her and putting a kiss on his forehead.

“Eug- Mama-”

“I love you, son. I’ll be right back.”

The sun was bright. It was summertime in the middle of Texas; this was to be  _ expected,  _ of course, but the humidity made it hard to breath. Mama made her way across the lot and opened the door with a low ding. She waited for a moment, to see if he’d actually come out on his own or if she’d have to call him. After a minute she realized it was the latter. Mama’s hand smacked against the brassy bell he kept on the counter. She hit it once, then a few more times, then a few more until finally;

“Who’s ringin’ that fuckin’ bell out there?” A voice hollered from the back .She heard him thud his way to the front. The curtain that sectioned off the back of the store off moved as he finally worked his way to the front.

“Gloria?” He was confused. His expression conveyed that much at least. Before he had time to think of something else to say Mama rushed him, going behind the counter and enveloping the poor man in a hug tight enough to break his damn back.

“Will you lighten up on your grip? Goddamn, Glory! The fuck’s got into you?” 

Spaulding could  _ hear  _ his back popping. 

“Have you noticed those fucker’s comin’ back? The ones the kids saw the other day?”

Mama’s voice was a frantic, breathless demand. He wiggled away from her grip and took a step back. 

“Wh- no? Course’ I haven’t. It’s been real quiet here. Are… Are you doin’ ok?” Spaulding’s voice lost it’s sarcastic edge. Almost immediately he put a hand on her shoulder; something to ground her, tether her to their current situation. He’d seen her like this before. She had a real nasty habit of getting caught up in her head, spiraling into her thoughts and obsessing over every detail like it was life or death. 

“I’m fine. I’m just worried about the kids is all.” Her tone was fake. Forced. Artificial. He didn’t buy it for a damn  _ second.  _

“Glory.. You got that look in your eye. That one you get when you’re bout’ at your wits end.”

Mama twitched. It was like the dam finally broke.

“Of COURSE I’m about at my wits end! There’s some sorta pack of vultures circlin’ round’ us like we’re roadkill!” She erupted like a fucking volcano, like a gun, firing herself at full speed into whatever she could hit. Spaulding knew she needed this. Needed to let out whatever she had built up over the last couple days. Now that Hugo was gone she didn’t have anyone in the house to really talk to as an equal, as a parent _.  _

“I’m worried about James! I’m worried about Baby gettin’ followed by grown men tryin’ to creep up on us! I’m worried about my family- I’m worried about  _ you  _ bein’ out here by yourself!”

That was enough to snap him out of his worry for a second.

“Why you worryin’ bout’ me?” He asked, confused. Mama looked at him like he’d lost his damn mind.

“Cause’ I  _ care  _ about you stupid!” Mama barked. “You’re out here all by yourself just beggin’ to be picked off!”

“What can I do, Glory? You really think they’re gonna try and get me?”

Mama was getting worked up. Her body had a certain way of tensing when she was upset; her shoulders bunched up, her nostrils flared. Spaulding had seen it countless times before, and it always made him uneasy. She looked fit to bite. 

“Come with me. Back to the house.” 

Her voice was quiet. Quieter than it’d been in years. He almost wanted to ask Mama to repeat herself just to make sure he’d heard right. The tension had eased back a bit, receded like the tide, and in it’s place was a deep looking exhaustion. 

“I don’t wanna be alone, John. I don’t wanna be by myself like this. I can’t. I can’t do it.”

“-Gloria-”

“I  _ can’t.” _

She looked frantic. Spaulding couldn’t bring himself to finish whatever thought he had on his tongue; he  _ hated  _ seeing her like this. It made him crazy; like he wanted to go out and wring the neck of every little fucker that they had on their backs himself. She had such a sway over him that it didn’t even take much to convince him.

It was fucking ridiculous.

“Fine. I’ll start closin’ up shop. Let Ravelli take over for a bit until this cools off. If that gets you to calm the  _ fuck _ down at least.” His bristling was fake. Artificial. He put on an act to make it seem like he resented her for this, like he hated coming to her rescue, but they both knew better. It’d been like this for years now, and even after the time apart they still came back to each other just the same.

It didn’t take him too long to get everything together. A few shirts, a pair of pants, some boxers all thrown into a bag and slung over his shoulder. Mama could probably find some of his old clothes stuffed somewhere once they got back up to the house if he really needed it. The masked man hunched by the door caught the keys Spaulding tossed to him and nodded them goodbye. The truck wasn’t to far from the door, luckily, parked off to the side and…. 

Mama’s heart caught in her throat.

The truck’s driver side door was open. Behind it was a van. White. Featureless. The windows were tinted, hiding whatever the fuck lurked inside from view. There was a commotion; some kind of fight, a scuffle breaking out. A man screamed as they heard a thud. More shouts, exclamations, a low brassy roar as her son’s head was visible over the top of the truck’s cab.

“What in the HELL-”

They could see a man work his way around Rufus’ neck, shoving a cloth into his face and working him against the bed of the truck. The struggles went limp. Rufus started to crumple, laying prone against the side of the bed like some kind of ragdoll. 

Mama screeched louder than she ever had before.

This finally got the men’s attention. They started to move, grabbing Rufus and half dragged, half hauled him into the back of the van. Mama and spaulding wasted no time bolting after them; they crossed the distance in mere seconds, but it was already too late. They slammed the doors to the back and threw themselves into the front of the cab. Mama reached the back bumper just as they started to pull out of the lot. She could  _ feel  _ the molten hot metal brush against her fingers right it shifted into drive.

She watched them leave. Mama watched them take him, her son,  _ her boy.  _ She couldn’t move; her mind was unraveling, a mess of grief, of anger, of panic so mind numbing she was frozen in place.

“Glory.” Spaulding’s voice was low, dangerous. She turned to face him, shaking with pure fucking rage. Below him laid the limp figure of one of those fuckers; bloody, bleeding from his nose and god knows where else.

“Looks like your boy took one of em’ out. Those dumb motherfuckers seemed to have forgot em’. What do you say we take him back with us? Return the favor an’ whatnot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its like taken but with backwoods texans who want there big murder son back


	10. oh no. oh shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rufus wakes up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heres where it all comes together kids. i hope this twist isnt bad

It was hard to pinpoint exactly what this feeling was.

He could feel still. At first it was like his entire body fell asleep from lack of blood flow, a buzz setting his entire body on fire. It started to fade, and he could feel the sensation of rope digging into his wrists, his arms, his body- everything. There was a bitter taste in his mouth; metallic and salty. He’d been busted open at some point in the struggle.

To put it bluntly, Rufus was fucking  _ scared. _

A stop. The van’s door was open, he heard the click and felt the air hit his exposed skin. Arms around his legs, his shoulders, basically lugging him along like a fucking carcass to the slaughterhouse. He could hear them, but he  _ couldn’t  _ at the same time. It was like they were muffled, talking while music was playing. All out of focus, drowned out with the background noise. He had to concentrate to pick up the bare minimum;

“...Bobby was here this wouldn’t be happening.”

“Fuck Bobby. You think I care about him? He’ll be fine.” 

“His fuckin’ fault for gushing to that blonde slut at the dinner anyways. He hadn’t said anything we could be back home by now.”

There were three of them. Rufus bristled; blonde slut meant his fucking  _ sister.  _ If he ever got the use of his hands back he was squashing this dudes head with them as soon as humanly possible. Fuckers, all of them. He tried to struggle more as they dragged him along but could only manage a slight shimmy. 

“He’s starting to wake up. Get him in there  _ now.” _

A door opened. He heard one of them grumble something under their breath and the other two launch into some stupid whiny  _ bullshit.  _ RJ was already fed the fuck up with this horseshit and he’d been concious for less than five minutes. Finally, he felt his body plop into something hard and the hands left his body. The fighting continued, squabbling about… rope? He could have misheard them. Whatever it was they were fighting about, it was getting  _ loud.  _ He lost the plot of the entire conversation as his newly conscious mind was overstimulated. The only thing he could concentrate on was the feeling of rope cutting into his arms as they tied him to whatever chair he’d been shoved into.

“How many times I need to tell y’all to KEEP QUIET IN HERE.”

This voice was new. He could hear it over the other squabbling- It sounded older than the others, deeper. Judging by the way the other three shut up the minute he opened his mouth, it must’ve been someone important. 

Their boss, probably.

“What have you dragged back here? It’s not that ungrateful fuck, I can see that much.”

“How’d you know that?” One of them asked.

“Unless he grew almost two feet overnight then it ain’t him fuckbrain. Now get the fuckin’ bag off.”

Rufus could hear all of them move at once, fumbling over each other like fucking idiots to get to his head. It was like a damn Stooge’s sketch, hearing them fight with themselves until finally someone's hand grabbed the sack they’d shoved over his head and hefted it off. He winced in the sudden light; It took a minute for it to finally recede so that he could see around him.

The room was shit. Tacky. Wallpaper peeling off the walls. Stained carpet. A bed that Rufus  _ knew  _ was soaked in buckets of cum or blood. Or both. Given the smell in the room, probably both. Worst of all, before him stood the three ugliest motherfuckers he’d ever seen in his life, wearing cheap looking suits that looked like they were made of something synthetic. They leaked an ooze that just  _ marked  _ them as artificial. 

“Turn him around.” 

Again, the three scrambled to comply. The chair he was in turned, making a loud scraping noise as they did. When Rufus came face to face with the boss, he was taken aback. He didn’t look much like what he’d expect some hardened thug to look like; his hair was neat. So was his beard. He looked… presentable. His suit actually looked like it was tailored, made for him by someone who knew what they were doing. He reminded him of a guy who used to work in town selling old clunkers on a lot. They were shit; breaking down the minute the person left the building. He was a weasel, the look in his eyes betrayed that. Something that caught Rufus off guard was how familiar he felt. Something about him just… Made something in his head click. Like he was looking at someone he’d known, just… different. Something so  _ familiar _ . 

“I think I know this one.” The boss nodded his head, “Yeah… Yeah. I know him. He’s the one that drove the fuckin’ trucks around. He’s all close to him.”

“Run a tow business. My job to do that.” Rufus felt like his lips were made of lead. Every word, every syllable was an effort. “Don’-”

“No, no,  _ no-  _ You stupid idiot. You know what I  _ mean.  _ You drive them around so they can pick people up. Take em’ back and do god knows what with em’. I know what you do.”

“You don’t know  _ shit.” _

Someone behind him moved. Next thing he knew, a long pipe was sent into his ribs. Rufus hissed through clenched teeth.

“I know everything. My job to. And I know that you got a hand in what happened to my girl.”

“Lots of girls go missin’ in this town. Be more specific.”

Another whack. This time from the boss himself.

“You smug little shit. You absolute slime of a human being. You wanna talk a big game to me? Mouth off and run that little mouth of yours all night? Go right the fuck ahead. I got time.”

“Fuck-”

Another whack. Rufus wasn’t sure where it came from; the pipe hit his head this time, making his vision black out for a moment. When he could see again, the hazey shape of the boss hovered right above his face.

“My daughter. She was around here not too long ago. Few months. Maybe a year. I want revenge.”

Another whack made his vision swim. Rufus had a hard time keeping track of the boss; his right eye had started to swell shut, and the left’s was obscured by a mix of blood and sweat. The shape in front of him was nothing but a blurry blob. 

“She came down trying to run away from home. From me. We had an argument, and she ran. For some  _ stupid  _ reason she ran from me. And I can’t get her back. I know she’s fuckin’  _ gone.  _ But I can get you for what you did to her. For what you  _ let  _ her do.”

Rufus felt a hand grab his jaw. The boss’ face was close to his now, leering down at him with so much hatred he thought his head would burst. His face…… The jaw. The color of his eyes. The shape of his nose. Even the voice was…. Oh my god.

It couldn’t be.

  
“If what I give’s not good enough for him, then he can fucking  _ rot.” _


	11. oh shit. oh fuck part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mama gets some answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this and the last chapter were supposed to be one big chunk but i couldnt find a way to transition from one pov to the next. so i just split it up. there should only be maybe 5-6 more chapters left after this? if they take a bit to go up i apologize but im in the middle of another move AND i have to find new homes for my cats that ive had for years. there like esas and losing thems making me really upset but like.. idk lol. im trying 2 write but this is kind of making me depressed so if shit takes a bit to go up blame that lol

“I’ll ask you one more fuckin’ time.” Mama’s voice was  _ lethal.  _ In her left hand was a dagger, blunt and rusty. The family liked to keep them this way; it added something to the entire torture process. It made everything that much harder, sure, but wasn’t that the point? 

Who knew. She didn’t exactly care at this point, what made the most sense or what didn’t. She was hellbent on making these fuckers  _ pay.  _ The victim hung before them, tied up by his ankles and wrists and leaking blood all over the basement floor. He’d been nothing but a pain in her ass since he’d woke up.

“Ain’t answering  _ shit  _ from you you old bitch-”

So fucking  _ rude. _

“Wrong answer.” Mama snarled. With a thrust the dagger cut into his ribs. There was resistance, obviously; the blade wasn’t sharp. She  _ really  _ had to push it in and out to make any sort of mark. This was the moment she was waiting for; the effects of the dull edge were immediate. He  _ screeched,  _ hissing and snarling in the air as she hacked away at him one bit at a time. She could feel every bit of resistance his body gave, every little bit it tried to push back. 

And every bit she pushed  _ forth. _

“Gloria….” Spaulding’s voice was low. She rose from the body in a sort of blood lust, panting like an animal, a beast. “You gotta remember to leave him alive. We need information from em’. Can’t get too carried away-”

“-I ain’t cuttin’  _ deep-”  _

She couldn’t even finish before Spaulding cut her off,

_ “ _ You look like you’ve carved past his ribs. Probably got internal bleeding now.”

“Whatever gets em’ to talk. We  _ need  _ him to talk.”

“He ain’t gonna talk if he’s  _ dead.”  _ Spaulding snapped. “Glory, I know you’re worked up an’ all, but you gotta take this slow.”

“If you have any better ideas John, then by  _ all means.” _ Mama tossed the dagger onto a workbench in the corner and stepped away dramatically. Spaulding eyed up the body dangling in front of them with a critical eye. An artist inspecting a blank canvas.

“Well,” Spaulding sighed, making his way over to the metal tray that had an array of odd tools they’d set up, “We could break a rib. Or two. Or three. However many it takes to get the little shit to squeal. Or… I could try and work em’ over with my hands. Old fashioned way. Rough the fucker up or pop an eyeball out-”

“FUCK. FUCK, FINE-” The guy turned  _ frantic.  _ Spaulding continued to grab at the tray until he found a saw that’s teeth were rusted. The man made an inhuman sort of squeal as Spaulding grabbed for it and turned it over in his hands. 

“I ever tell ya how I got the nickname Cutter?” He asked over his shoulder. It was said so casually, so  _ informally  _ it was jarring even to her. Mama could only watch as he loomed above their captive with the saw. He didn’t make so much as a peep as he descended onto the body like a bird of prey. 

Spaulding did a lot of damage for someone so concerned with keeping their hostage alive. One hand quickly became a stump. It’s fingers were all sawed off in quick succession, one after the other until none were left. The other was simply sawed in half entirely; blood spurted from the open wound in time with their victim’s frantically beating heart. Mama even saw some get to the ceiling above them in a grotesque sort of splatter.

Great. Another  _ fucking  _ thing to clean up.

“Stop, stop  _ please-  _ I’ll  _ talk-”  _ The guy sounded even more gone than he did before. His eyes were starting to get that far away look of someone who was starting to bleed out.

“Coulda talked the whole damn time you was down here. Decided to mouth off and call this woman a bitch instead? Fuck you. You had this comin’.” Spaulding snarled, jabbing one of the guy’s own fingers into his chest. “Now start talkin’.”

“My- my boss is trying to track down th- kid who killed his d-d-daughter-”

“We  _ know that already dumbass.”  _ Mama snarled. Spaulding shot her a glare. The more time they wasted, the more time they interrupted this little ass was more time they lost getting information. The clock was ticking.

“-he tracked him her- here- here and I don’t… I don’t get it. He said somethin’ rea-l confusing..”

He was officially on his way out now.. Even now, they could see that his pupils were starting to dilate. He maybe had another couple of minutes before he was gone completely.

“Spit it out, kid!” Spaulding barked.

“S...Said.. He gave me the pictures… Of the ki-d… And of the daughter… I say-”

He coughed. From the rattle of his chest it sounded  _ painful. _ A blood clot plopped against the cool concrete of the floor.

“They looked  _ so similar _ .”

Both Mama and Spaulding tensed. It felt like the entire room had lost it’s feeling, going completely ice cold in a moment. Everything clicked into place; the victim being someone apparently from months ago, going after  _ James  _ out of all of the family members they could have picked. 

“I can- can’t see-”

“Go on.” Mama insisted. She tried her best to make her tone sound soft, encouraging. Like she was talking to one of her own.

Not the fucker who  _ kidnapped  _ them.

“I can’t see…. They looked so similar. I thought it was her brother. But he said no. He killed her the minute he jabbed that needle in- in-”

Another cough. The two watched, transfixed, as his struggle continued to weaken. Even after seeing so many people die, so many deaths in this house alone, it was always still something that made them both stare. The final moments of something living, before they passed on, were  _ mesmerizing.  _

“I don’t know what he meant. Please.. That’s all I know. I can’t- I can’t feel my feet anymore-”

“Where are they? Where’s he hidin’ out?”

“Old… Steel Barrel motel at the ed- edge of town. It was the best we could get-” 

He looked pale. Ghostly pale. Like a shade of a normal person. An imprint of what someone should look like. Even in all her cruelty, Mama knew when enough was enough. 

“Cut em’ down.” 

Spaulding moved in to do it. The poor kid's body fell into a crumpled heap in front of them, oozing out all over the floor. He righted himself somehow in his twitching and the pair watched his final breaths. His chest started to slow, gradually at first then all at once until it was still. He was gone.

The two stared at his corpse in silence. 

It was like trying to wrap your head around something in a foreign language you barely understood. They could parse the gist of it, but how in the  _ fuck  _ was this something they’d managed to have land on their damn laps? How the hell were they even found?

“They want James… It’s his dad. It’s gotta be his dad.” Mama shook her head in disbelief. “I heard him talk about him, about how controlling he was an’ all but.. Hell. This is somethin; else.”

“So his ol’ man wants to… What? Kill him?  _ For gettin’ out of his damn hair?  _ What sense does that make?”

“He threatened to lock him up in a room when he found out what James was doin’. He was gonna send him to some looney bin camp and make him ‘right’ or somethin’ and then… Then when he ran he got that one fucker to hunt him down. He’s just about as batshit as you could get.”

This was so much to take in.  _ Too  _ much to take in. Spaulding felt himself sigh as he rubbed his forehead- smearing paint all over his face in the process. He looked about as haggard as he felt now.

“Look. I dunno where we go from here. We obviously gotta get the boy back. But  _ fuck,  _ we can’t let James know about this. He’ll  _ flip shit-” _

There was a creak from the stairs, almost like some sort of cue. They pivoted; before them was James, hanging onto the railing near the top of the steps. His knuckles were bone white. His expression was dark, and even in the odd lighting of the stairs they could both see the fire burning in his eyes. 

Of fucking  _ course  _ this had to happen like this.

“James-” 

He didn’t even stop to listen to what they said. He was back up the stairs in an instant, grabbing the door and throwing it open like his life depended on it. Spaulding was the first to move; he started after him up the stairs in a frantic rush.

“James, son, fuckin’ hold on- before you go-”

The door slammed right in his face. By the time he jostled with the damn handle and opened it he was gone. Tiny sat alone in the living room, eating a bowl of Kraft. Spaulding stared at his stepson for what seemed like a full minute before he finally pointed towards the front door.

“Thank you for that.”


	12. [smash bros voice] A CHALLENGER APPROACHES

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It rains. Hard. James hypes himself up for what's coming next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapters kind of short, again, because i had this part o hte outline as a big blob instead of smth sectioned into chapters. its content tho

There was a storm rolling in.

It seemed fitting, as pathetic as it was. The thunderheads flashing in the distance were daunting, sure, but leaving his boyfriend at the hands of a sadist was even worse.  _ God  _ only knew what his father had planned for him, and he’d be fucked if he waited around to find out. James braced himself on his bike. It was something Rufus had “found”, apparently. He knew much better; it was some victim’s ride he salvaged right before locking them in the family’s meat cellar. Regardless, it was his  _ baby.  _ He’d always wanted a bike, ever since he was a kid. His father had always said no.

“JAMES.” The voice was loud, screaming over the sound of his engine. Spaulding stood on the porch, cupping his hands over his mouth to try and beat the noise. James just revved his engine louder and pushed himself forward. He knew what he had to do.

He had time before it hit. By the time he hit the outskirts of town it was approaching, the wind racing around him and trees groaning ominously. It was  _ nothing  _ compared to back home; it took everything for him not to laugh as he watched the townspeople panic as the first drops of rain started. Maybe it was just the situation making him apathetic, but the storm didn’t scare him. God could send a twister down to raize the entire state and he wouldn’t give a  _ rats ass  _ until he got what he wanted. 

The motel was a rundown shithole. 

The Steel Barrel looked rusted. The sign was in the dark, so shaded that he’d almost blown right past it. Half the lights outside the rooms were out. A door slammed open and shut as the wind picked up, sending a bunch of… what he  _ hoped  _ was toilet paper billowing into the night. It honestly shocked him that his dad had chosen…  _ this  _ of all places. His standards were usually much, much higher.

“You look lost, kid.”

The voice made James jump. He looked behind him; there was a cadillac. The roof looked odd, flimsy- until he realized it was a convertible. A man stood against the hood, leaning and smoking a fat looking cigar as he eyed him over.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are  _ you  _ lost motherfucker?”

“What it’s supposed to  _ mean  _ is you’re stickin’ out like a sore thumb. Only reason people come round’ here is to buy blow or buy someone  _ to  _ blow, and you don’t look like you’re in the market for either. No need to get your tits in a twist.”

“You got somethin’ to offer me or you ust gonna jab your fuckin’ jaw all night? I don’t have time for this.”

It wasn’t like James to be this angry. He  _ hated  _ it, at least to random strangers. Something he’d prided himself on, even after moving in with RJ and the family, was how he could talk to people. Even if it was an  _ act,  _ he still could put on a front of actually caring about someone. The guy was grizzled looking, sure, but even he looked taken aback by his tone. 

“I didn’t- I didn’t mean that bad!” He exclaimed, “Fuck. I’m sorry, man. Didn’t know you were gonna be so worked up about it. Didn’t know I hit a nerve.”

“I- I’m.. fuck. I’m here tryin’ to get someone back. I’m sorry.” 

This seemed to pique the guy’s interest. 

“Recovery mission? That’s what I’m doin’.” The man’s face shifted completely; gone was the somewhat amicable smile, replaced by a scowl that only grew as he snarled, “Slimey little fucker up north stole some shit I had while he was on a roadtrip and I think he’s hidin’ out here.”

Thunder rolled above them, loud and droning like god himself was about to touch down. A road trip. Drugs.

“Up north?”

“Yeah. From one of those corn states, I dunno.” 

Shit. Shit shit shit shit  _ shit- _

“What he look like?” James’ sentence was rushed, almost slurred in his haste. The guy gave him a wary look.

“You really invested in where a bunch of coke’s at?”

“Maybe.  _ What did the guy look like _ .”

The guy gave him a  _ look.  _ It was something critical; his eyebrow cocked and his head tilted as he stared him down for almost a solid minute. It reminded James of something,  _ somehow.  _ He didn’t know  _ what  _ it was, but fuck it made him squirm.

“Had some grey hair. White guy. Clean face, maybe five-six or so. Weasel lookin’  _ bitch-” _

_ “ _ -that’s my dad.”

James didn’t need to hear anymore. It all added up. Every last  _ fucking detail  _ added up. He sucked in a breath as the rain started to come down harder than it had before.

“...Did… Did your dad take…?” 

“My boyfriend. I don’t know why. He wants  _ me  _ for something.”

“Well shit, ain’t if obvious?” He spat the last bits of his cigar out and smashed it underfoot. “He made you come all the way over here after he took your guy? He’s tryin’ to blow your fuckin’ head off.”

He was right. Obviously, he was right. But this seemed like a lot to take in; it was something James hadn’t really wanted to acknowledge yet. Some little bit of him wanted to think, still, that shit could be smoothed over, and that his dad would just… Welcome him back eventually? Despite everything he’d gone through?

This was obviously stupid. He  _ knew  _ that. James was too different of a person now. 

That wasn’t a bad thing.

“....What do you wanna  _ do _ , then?” 

James didn’t know why exactly he was asking this stranger what to do. He didn’t know him, obviously, but it seemed like they had the same target. Maybe someone being with him would make it easier.

“Kid… I’m fixin’ to  _ kill  _ your dad.”

“I am too. He took my fucking  _ boyfriend.”  _ James hissed. “Abused me as a kid, tried to ruin my life when I got away… I want him dead.”

Something changed in the guy’s demeanor. He seemed to stiffen a bit, tense his body like he was thinkin’ hard about something. Both of them were getting absolutely  _ drenched  _ by the rain.

“That’s brutal.” The guy shook his head and laughed as he  _ finally  _ moved, “Fuckin’  _ brutal  _ kid. This is gonna be fun.”

James felt the weight in his chest lift somewhat. He was waved over to the cadillac as the trunk popped. 

“Name’s Charlie, by the way.” He grunted as he poked through the mess of his car. “What’s your’s?”

“James.” 

“James.. I like that.” Charlie nodded. His hands finally found what he was looking for; a large, shiny looking stick of metal. The flickering light above them gave James just enough light to see a trigger. The thing was a  _ gun.  _ Huge, fat, and  _ completely  _ impractical in what they had to do.

“You need all that?” 

“It’s for show.” Charlie grunted, “You got one? A gun?”

“Nope. I got this.” James patted his side. The bat Spaulding had given him hung from his side like a trophy. Something he was  _ so  _ proud of.

“That? You wanna go in with  _ that?  _ You’re fuckin’ with me.”

“No, I’m not.”

“These guys got guns. You ain’t gonna get anything done if you’re  _ dead,  _ kid-”

“-I’m not your kid.” James snarled. Charlie stopped; something in his eyes flipped, like a switch getting turned. His look went stern.

“Yeah? I forgot, the guy you're the  _ kid of  _ is the one you wanna kill.I’m glad you ain’t my kid. Listen. I get it. You’re upset.  _ Real  _ pissed off. You got boynapped and now you want revenge for that and  _ all  _ the other daddy issues you got from him. And that’s great! Absolutely fine! But  _ my  _ thing is I want my shit back. And I can’t  _ get  _ my shit back if you’re bleeding out on the floor with a damn  _ hole in your chest!“ _

He fumbled, trying to find a box of bullets. James watched him load the things- huge, absolutely  _ massive- _ into the barrel. He seemed upset, worked up and tense.

“Fuck.”

“I’m sorry.” James blurted. Charlie glared at him- a sharp look that made his throat feel heavy. It seemed like forever before he finally rolled his eyes.

“When we get over there, stay behind me. I’ll start shooting, you make sure to take out anyone on the sides. For the  _ love of god,  _ try not to get shot up.”

James nodded.

“He’s on the bottom level. Up on the right, last room before the end of the building. If we’re gonna do this, now’s the time. The storm’s gonna muffle most of the noise we’re gonna make and at least buy us some time before the cops try and bust our asses.”

James heard a click as the safety was disabled. God, they were  _ really  _ doing this. Just rushing into the room like fucking hotshots, huh? It was chaotic. An absolute fucking  _ mess. _

“You ready?” 

He didn’t know how to answer that. They were walking now, on their way across the parking lot to the door. James didn’t have  _ time  _ to answer. It was happening whether he was ready or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i havent really... watched rejects a whole lot but i like charlie as a character so like uh.. sorry if i cant get his character that well. im trying.


	13. Chapter 13

The blade against RJ’s throat was sharp.

“I’ll ask again.”

“ _ Fuck  _ you.” Rufus growed. The blade was pressed against his skin even harder than it’d been before. Something hot and wet tickled his neck.

“Oops. You’re leaking.” Howard’s tone was flat. Apathetic. Rufus knew enough about the body to know where he’d jabbed him wasn’t near anything special. He wasn’t about to spurt blood all over the room and slip away. 

It just  _ hurt. _

“Do that as much as you want, you fuckin’ carny. M’ not sayin’ shit on James.”

He could hear a wheeze from behind him. Howard, the fucking coward he was, had been out of his line of site since he’d come back to. The knife dropped from his neck as the fucker circled him, eying him up and down like he was something to be picked apart and played with. 

“I don’t  _ care  _ about whatever that little shit’s been doing. He’s a generation or two removed from being shoved in a damn  _ freakshow.  _ You think I  _ care  _ about the nuances of his life?” 

Howard had a shit eating grin as he watched Rufus thrash around like a caged dog. He was  _ mad. Pissed.  _ Absolutely fucking  _ livid.  _ And for what? His bastard? His family shame? 

Absolutely pathetic. What a fucking  _ waste  _ to die for.

“All I want… Is for him to come here. And he will. If he’s really what’s left from my  _ beautiful baby girl,  _ then I know he’ll rush in here and throw the world’s biggest  _ fit  _ over it. And for  _ what?  _ What, realistically, is  _ worth  _ that? Knowing I’m just gonna kill you and him when he busts down that door?”

“He  _ loves  _ me.” RJ growed. Howard snorted.

“Love? What?  _ Love?  _ You think that doped up little  _ shit  _ knows what love is? I  _ tried  _ to love him! For years!  _ Years!  _ And what did I get in exchange?” 

Howard seemed to be getting worked up; his hands combed through the mop of hair on his head, speckled with grey from his age. RJ had seen this sort of desperation plenty of times. He kept twitching, moving around the room like it’d kill em’ to stay in one place for too long. Worst of all his  _ eyes…  _ His eyes were frantic. Panicked. Like he knew, deep down, that this wasn’t going to go how he’d planned.

“I get some whiny little shit who wants to jab herself full of chemicals. When I’ve worked,  _ so fucking hard,  _ to get our family as respectable as possible. I worked, and worked, and  _ worked…  _ and she turns out  _ just  _ like her mother. Just as unpredictable… Just as upsetting.”

“Thank god for that.” Rufus grumbled from his seat. The pipe in Howard’s hand whistled past his ears; in an instant, it was brought against his arm. He  _ roared,  _ thrashing in the chair like some wild beast.

“She was a pain on my ass for  _ years.  _ And I tried! Tried to get her to understand! But no! I had to handle that too, just like I have to handle  _ everything  _ around here, and like how I’m about to handle  _ you…” _

The pipe was readied again. Howard lined it up with RJ’s head like a batter at the mound. He took a step and mimed a swing, stopping before he could actually smack the metal against his temple. And repeated. And repeated.

“Hope you’re ready for this as much as I am.” Howard hissed. “Been lookin’ forward to this for  _ months-” _

The door flew open with a bang. Before anyone inside could react, a click filled the air as the shotgun’s safety was flicked off.

“GET READY, KID.” Charlie barked. James took a step back as Charlie fired into the room. The recoil sent him stumbling back a bit as a loud shriek erupted from inside. 

“What in the FUCK-” Howard watched as one of his henchmen- one he’d had since he’d  _ started  _ on this shit _ ,  _ practically- fell to the floor in a heap. He was still alive. Barely. Twitching around like a fish out of water, blood bubbling out of his mouth with a massive hole in his chest.

“I wanted the fucking  _ room deposit back!”  _ Howard shrieked. “GET THEM.”

The two remaining henchmen moved; one had his hand on a gun and lined it up. Charlie was quicker than he was; the guy only managed to get a single shot out before he rushed him. With a grunt Charlie rammed the side of the gun against his head and sent him to the ground. Seconds later, the barrel was pressed against his temple. Another bang. This time, the gore coated the wall, splattering against the TV set. 

The last remaining lackey couldn’t help but balk at the carnage. He hesitated, fumbling with the tool he’d grabbed to defend himself with. When he looked back up he came face to face with the end of a wooden bat. 

_ Smack. _

He stumbled. It’d been like a blackout, a blur when the wood had connected with his face. He was vaguely aware of something trickling down his mouth, and when he went to touch his nose he found it felt crooked. He didn’t even have time to scream before another whack- this one forced him on his ass. He could barely register where he was, everything felt like it was  _ swimming. _

James roared as he descended on the poor man. It was like he was possessed; every whack made him scream, shriek, pant like something fucking  _ rabid.  _ Before long, the man was a twitching mass of gore and viscera under him, barely clinging on to anything adjacent to “life”. He raised his bat again. When he went to lower it, something stopped him.

“That’s enough.” Charlie didn’t sound upset, but his tone carried a certain authority to it that made him listen. He was  _ coated  _ in it; blood, guts, brain matter. Speckled around him like fucking confetti. In his haze, he locked eyes with the man across from him; cowering beside a chair like a complete and utter  _ bitch.  _ A  _ pansy.  _ This was the man who put him through hell for so many years?

“Hey,  _ dad _ .” 

The way his father recoiled at the sight of him, wincing as he panted in the afterglow. It was better than sex. It was better than a drug. It was  _ power.  _ Watching this worm  _ squirm  _ after doing so much to him made him drunk. What had he expected? Was it this?

The look of sheer and utter  _ panic  _ on Howard’s face made him think that no, it wasn’t.  _ Good. _

“Where’s Rufus.” James' tone was cold. He had absolutely nothing he wanted from the man other than that. Howard simply motioned to a chair across the room. A figure was slumped, bound by rope and shoved into a chair much too small for his frame. James dropped his bat and ran,  _ ran  _ to the chair and swiveled it around.

RJ’s face was battered. An eye was nearly swollen shut, and the other looked like it’d burst a blood vessel. He seemed flighty, like he’d had his brain rattled enough to cause a concussion. And his arm. By  _ god,  _ his arm. It looked broken. James could see bruises already purpling along his skin.

“Hey killer.” Rufus slurred. “You look rough.”

“You look rougher.” James exclaimed. “That fucker- he broke your arm!” 

“Yeah?” RJ asked. James moved to undo the rope around him; as he cut his injured arm free, the burning sensation that shot up his arm confirmed that  _ yes,  _ the arm was broken.

“Wait. Rufus?” Charlie’s voice cut their reunion short. The  _ minute  _ he heard his voice, Rufus pivoted. His face was like a kid on Christmas day.

“ _ Uncle Charlie _ ?” He bolted across the room in a flash. Charlie put the gun on the table as he embraced him, taking him in like he was at a family reunion. And not in the middle of a bloodied motel room. To be honest, it made James feel a bit jealous. 

“That’s… Your uncle.”

“Yeah! He’s Cutter’s brother!” RJ looked  _ so  _ happy. The damn man had won the lottery; not only was he alive, but apparently his favorite uncle had helped. Any kind of envy he’d had dissolved immediately. 

“He’s got a brother?” James  _ knew  _ he should’ve known. The way the man talked, the gestures… The weirdly protective way he kept trying to boss him around. It made sense.

“We adopted him. Mom and Dad did.” Charlie patted RJ on the back and reached for his gun again. “We can have a reunion later on. For now, I want my fuckin’ drugs. Where  _ are  _ they, you fuckin’ weasel?”

“Shove it up your  _ ass  _ Flywheel-”

The safety on the gun clicked off again. Howard’s eyes went wide. Charlie pushed the gun into his chest so hard that his back flopped against the table.

“So here’s the thing, Howie. You’ve done a few things to piss me off tonight. The first, obviously, is you went and  _ stole  _ from me. Didn’t even try hidin’ the evidence; the bags you got em’ in probably still got my titty-town’s logo plastered all over! Half assed con job.” Charlie spat, literally, right onto his face. 

“They’re over- over in the closet back there.” Howard’s voice warbled as he all but pissed his pants. Charlie motioned for Rufus to check. After a moment of fumbling, he gave him a thumbs up. “Wh- what was the second thing?”

“Well… The  _ second  _ thing is that you decided to fuck with my family. That huge tree-lookin’ motherfucker behind you’s my nephew. My  _ brother’s fuckin’ kid.  _ You damn near beat him half to death tonight. And for what?”

“Cha- Charlie,  _ please.  _ I don’t have nothin’ against you! It’s the other one I wanna get too-”

“ _ And he’s family too, motherfucker! _ You absolutely  _ pathetic  _ little shit. I outta blast a hole through your chest right fuckin’ here. But it ain’t my place to do that.”

He backed away from the table, but kept his gun pointed in his general direction. James crossed the room in a fugue state; it felt like his feet didn’t even touch the floor. It was surreal, looking at his dad, the  _ fear  _ in his eyes.

“You  _ do  _ look like me.” Howard sounded  _ amazed.  _ Like it was something shocking. James didn’t even entertain him; in a flash his bat smacked him across the jaw. A trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. Whatever bullshit he was about to spew died in his throat.

“What are you gonna do to em’?” Charlie asked from the closet. In his arms were duffel bags full of drugs and  _ god  _ knows what else.

“I dunno yet. Wanna smack him around for a bit.”

Charlie was halfway out the door now with the bags. 

“Then what?” 

“I… I dunno?” James shrugged. “I guess we’ll figure it out?”

“Kill the fucker.” RJ grunted from behind him. James turned. Seeing him covered in bruises and gashes made him want to  _ scream _ .

So he did. While bashing the bat into Howard’s head again. It was therapeutic. 

“I think I wanna take em’ back to the house.” James panted after his bloodlust had finally passed. Howard was unresponsive; he’d fallen limp a few whacks ago. He looked like he was  _ breathing  _ at the very least.

“Where we puttin’ em’? The trunk?”

“The back. We can tie him up so he doesnt get out and.. I dunno. When we get back Mama’ll know what to do.” 

That seemed to make enough sense. To him, at least. They could see the car in the parking lot; Charlie was squishing bags into the trunk like his life depended on it.

“I think we should help him.” 

“Really?”

“I mean… If we want his help getting back home. I took the bike. I don’t think you’re really gonna wanna sit behind me on that thing.”

“Could drive it myself.”

“Oh like  _ hell  _ you’re drivin’ my bike.” James shoved him through the door. Charlie looked tense when they finally made it to his car. The bags were half hanging out of his trunk; which was compacted as far as it could go.

“Why don’t you just… Put it in the backseat?” James offered.

“I get pulled over and it’s in the back then I’m gonna have a  _ lot  _ more to worry about than a ticket.” 

“I mean. Do we have  _ time  _ for this? We need to get going soon. It’s only a matter of time before-”

James stopped. In the distance, he could hear sirens echoing through the storm. 

“Fuck… Fuck.” Charlie spat. “Toss em’ in the fuckin’ back! We gotta go- where’s Howard? Did you finish em’ off?”

“No, he’s- He’s inside. We gotta tie em’ up and we’re takin’ him with us.”

“You  _ left him alive?” _

“He’s knocked out!” James insisted. “Like, out of it. Really, went down a lot easier than I expected him too. We just need to go back inside an-”

BANG. 

Everything felt… Odd. There were other bangs, but they sounded muffled. Like they were happening from another room, through a wall or something. Distorted… Quiet. He could  _ hear  _ them, of course, but he couldn’t focus on them. Everything in his head was foggy… Off. 

It took what seemed like eternity for everything to go back to normal. When it did, it was  _ overwhelming.  _

He could hear thunder. He could hear shouting, screaming- could hear his own breathing, a low pant as he watched something oozing from his chest. It was hot; sticky. It felt… morbid. Looking at the thick stream of blood that was rushing from the gaping hole in his chest. Charlie wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t know where Charlie was. Rufus… RJ. He was next to him. He looked upset. Scared.

His legs buckled.

Everything felt cold.


	14. sir this is a wendys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James has a talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everybody sorry for doing that last chapter theres a reason for it tho xoxo

His hearing was muffled again.

Everything James heard was distant. Like it was coming in through fuzz, a radio station that was out of bounds, too far to get a clear signal. Someone crying. Spaulding. He was saying something about how he looked.. .Off. The color of his body. Mama sounded  _ hysterical.  _ Otis’ shrill screech about… Something. He was sure it had to be important, but  _ fuck. _ He couldn’t hear it clearly. He didn’t understand.

His body looked normal. As normal as it usually did, anyway. White skin. Hair on his arms. Legs. There wasn’t anything…  _ Off  _ as far as James could tell, at least as far as his body was concerned. Everything else around him was black. Pitch black. He wasn’t sure if he was  _ floating  _ exactly- it didn’t  _ feel  _ like it at least?- but his feet weren’t connected to anything solid.

“This is weird.” 

His lips moved, but it didn’t feel like he said it. Nothing left his lungs. It was trippy. Too much to handle. James shut his eyes as he tried to rationalize this, make his brain work through his haze, something,  _ anything. _

He opened them.

The room around James didn’t smell like much of anything.

The light wasn’t blinding, but it was brighter than the void before it.  _ Much  _ brighter. All around him was grey. Pillars of it. Slopes of it, going up and up and up. Lines were painted on the ground, white, sectioned off into evenly spaced segments-

“-Is this a fucking  _ parking garage?” _

This time he felt his voice leave his throat. It echoed off the walls, reverb carrying out deeper and deeper into whatever  _ this  _ was. Despite the initial relief the sensation of  _ something  _ leaving his chest filled him with, it seemed… hollow. Lonely. At least in the void, he couldn’t hear himself bounce off the walls into eternity. 

James stayed put for…. He wasn’t sure. Time wasn’t really a  _ thing  _ here, was it? He was somewhere else now. The parking lot, the car… His chest. Something sticky…. 

Fuck.

Oh, god.

He concentrated. Hard. James could hear them, faintly, somewhere that wasn’t here. Some sounds. Someone talking, lower than the shrieks and screams he’d heard earlier. Something else… Chirping. Crickets? Were they burying him? 

No. Too early for that. It had to be too early. His heart was still beating, probably.

Fuck that was surreal to think about. He didn’t- how… how  _ could  _ he think about it? His own death? 

There wasn’t fuck all here to do, it seemed, but to go up. So James did. He went up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up,and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up.

He took a break.

Then he went up. And up. And up.

James could hear more crying. It sounded like Baby; high pitched wailing that made him stop in his tracks. Unable to  _ do  _ anything, calm her down- nothing. This had to be some kind of punishment. Some kind of  _ hell  _ for him to rot in for all eternity. 

“It’s actually purgatory, honey.”

He felt everything in his body freeze at once.

The scene around him spun, morphing into something… Calmer. More inviting. He wasn’t stuck in an endless parking garage anymore; now, he was on the roof. The ramp to the last ‘level’ before this- if there  _ was  _ one- was completely hidden by a layer of fog. And before him… Before him, backlit by the light of the brightest looking moon he’d ever seen.

“...Mom?” 

She looked healthy. Normal. Like how she’d been before she’d gotten sick. It was like she was some kinda  _ angel  _ in front of him. The silver from above gave her a sort of halo, an ethereal sheen that radiated some sort of aura. Her eyes were still the same green he’d remembered, powerful but kind all at once. 

“You look….  _ so much  _ like your father…” She sounded… Disappointed, almost. There was a sadness in her eyes that made James’ stomach twist. She didn’t let it sit for long; in an instant, she forced a smile onto her face.

“...At the very least you got my eyes.” 

She laughed. She laughed, like  _ nothing  _ was wrong here. Like no time had passed whatsoever. James couldn’t take it.

“Mom…”

James couldn’t finish. He crumpled; into her arms, sobbing into her chest like a fucking  _ baby.  _ It was like the flood gates had opened. Every single thing he’d been keeping bottled up, every little scrap of emotions; all at once, out and spewing like a fucking downpour.

“It’s ok...” She was patting his head, brushing a hand through his hair as she rocked him. They were on the ground now, sitting together against a wall next to the edge of the roof.

“I- I… I died. Didn’t I? That’s what happened?”

“Oh… Oh James. It’s complicated-”

“-Ma’,  _ my chest was all busted out _ .”

His mom went quiet. 

“Well… You aren’t  _ wrong.”  _ She conceded. Her grip on James tightened, pulling him in closer to her chest and rocking him like she’d done before. It was soothing; he kept crying, sure, but there was something so primal about this, the sensation of her holding him. It did wonders. They didn’t even need to talk. It wasn’t really clear how much time had passed- again, time didn’t seem to  _ matter  _ here. He couldn’t hear anyone anymore. Anyone besides his mom.

“Your father’s dead. Or he will be soon.”

James surfaced from her shoulder for the first time in awhile. His face was splotchy. Snot dribbled from his nose. His eyes were red, but the news that Howard  _ was  _ going to be punished made him feel some kind of comfort.

“Your family has him. The people out there… They took him. They’re planning on putting him through a  _ whole  _ lotta hell.”

“Good.” James hiccuped, “They almost killed Rufus.”

“And  _ you,  _ hun. And me too.”

“ _ What?”  _ James pulled away from his mother in shock. That- It made sense, sure, but did he really….

“Yeah. It… He said it was cancer, right? I just got sick outta nowhere?” James nodded. “Of course he did. Makes sense, that  _ fucker.  _ He poisoned me, James. It was slow.  _ Painful.” _

It made so much sense. James wanted to _ vomit.  _

“Don’t beat yourself up, son. You couldn’t  _ do  _ anything about him. Hell, I’m glad you didn’t get caught up in the crossfire until….. You know.” She looked so sad. There was that look again; the little twitch of her eye, the frown. Her eyes were getting watery.

“My one regret was never getting to see you mature into the man you’ve become. You look like your father, but honey, you’re  _ nothing  _ like him. And I’m so proud.”

“I’ve done  _ bad  _ things though, mom. I don’t… I don’t know where I’m going.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I leave whatever the hell this is.” James motioned towards the area around them. Bleak. Grey. Except for the sky above them, but even  _ that  _ seemed fake. 

“Well... “ His mom sighed, “It takes a lot to really get anything  _ bad _ after you die. I mean… You gotta  _ really  _ fuck up. The one’s who do the worst are just shoved into another life until they learn to behave themselves. Most people just move on.”

“To what?”

“To what’s next. James… I’m not gonna lie. Some things you’ve done haven’t been the best. I’ve seen it.” James felt himself pale. Oh  _ fuck.  _ His mother looked stern. Somewhat upset… Until she sighed.

“But… You’re doing what you need to do to survive. You aren’t being evil to be  _ evil.  _ You’re just trying to get by. And you’re protecting your family with it. So… It’s not ideal, by  _ any  _ means. But… I can see the reasoning behind it. And by  _ god,  _ James. You look so happy… So  _ free.  _ It’s selfish of me, sure, and I may be biased, but that alone makes it worth it for me.”

“Really?”

His mother nodded.

“When I knew I was going, my main fear was that you wouldn’t have anyone to watch out for you. Your father… Was far from empathetic. We both know that.” James winced. His mother sucked in another breath through clenched teeth. 

“Regardless of that ass. You found them. You  _ found  _ someone, some family that cares for you. Enough that there out there right now, going into some….  _ Thing  _ to try and get you back.”

James flinched.

“What?”

“James… You need to listen. This next part’s important, ok? You have two choices; the first is coming with me. Moving on. Resting. You leave all that behind and find peace in whatever comes next.”

This was so much to try and comprehend at once. Just leaving, finally being  _ done  _ and retiring from it all. Just resting for the rest of whatever the hell came next, finally free from life, from struggle. _.  _

It sounded amazing. On the surface, at least. 

“I… What’s the other option?” 

His mother looked reluctant. Behind her, the sky contorted into a wall of mist. Twisting, morphing, until eventually it showed a room. Red. Shapes moved frantically around a table while a ghastly looking pale  _ thing  _ hovered over it.

“The Doctor?”

“He’s working on you. Whatever he’s doing, it’s working. But you’ve got to want to go back. He can’t force you. You’ve got to want it.”

“So I can live again?”

“In a way, yes. You could. You can go back to them, live with them like you were…  _ love  _ like you were.” His mother added gently. James squirmed a bit under her knowing look, almost blushing until the gravity of the situation hit him. 

“Wait. If I go back.. Will I see you again? When it’s all over?”

“I’d think so. I mean.. Like I said. You gotta  _ really  _ mess up to not make it in somewhere. And when you do, I’ll find you again. Just like I did tonight.” 

James could only remember her smile from foggy memories. Little scraps from his childhood, fragments that his father never seemed to catch on film. When she’d gotten sick, they seemed rarer and rarer until finally, nothing. But now, here in the abyss, she was back. Smiling. With a look of pride in her eyes as she took her son into her arms one last time.

“I can tell you’ve made your choice.” She whispered into his ear. Something about her felt different; he could feel her arms around him, but at the same time he  _ couldn’t.  _ Like she was there one second and gone the next.

“Mom-”

“James, we don’t have a lot of time. You’re starting to drift back to them now. I need to make this count; I love you. So,  _ so  _ much. I’m  _ so  _ proud of you, proud of  _ everything-”  _ Her voice was starting to sound like the others had been earlier. Muffled. James let out a panicked whine as he realized he was losing her.

“Honey- don’t be scared. I’m with you still. I’ll  _ always  _ be with you.” She was starting to lose her definition. James could see through her, like she was a ghost. The entire garage was falling apart around them, crumbling into nothingness. A wall eroded behind him. The floor under him was starting to creak, twisting and contorting like a cheap toy.

“And I am so,  _ so  _ proud-”

Her image shivered before eroding into nothing. The floor under him finally gave out, and then he was back into the void. Sprawling into nothingness. He fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell-

There was a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> james said fuck an eternity of bliss and living without a car for anything im going back to EARTH to SUFFER with my HOT BOYFRIEND and his mom said yaaas queen wig perid
> 
> ok genuinely i cant continue that joke. like for real its going to fucking kill me. holy shit. anyways i hope this is all turning out good with everything so far and i hope everyones liking it- theres not gonna be too many chapters left after this, like maybe...4 or 5 more tops? if that? so were once again in the home stretch here. i dont know if i have any sort of solid idea on another fic after this- i may just do some one shots? or shorter stories that arent 10+ chapters each? im not sure
> 
> my main issue in the direction is the drastic sort of change in status quo after this fics done because, obviously, coming back from the dead kind of changes someone. im not getting into spoilers, obviously, but like... itll be different! and idk how i want to handle that with these characters or what situations to even put them in at this point without it becoming some over the top mess. im sure i can think of something, eventually. 
> 
> anyway
> 
> in the mean time enjoy this absolute trainwreck.


	15. coming out of surgery and instead of a nurse offering you a cup of orange flavored jello its some albino cyborg asking you if you saw hell or not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jello is nasty as fuck literally the only time i ate that and had it slap was when i woke up from my top surgery and like, needed something so i didnt puke. even then it tasted like booty asshole cheeks

Blur.

Murky.

Everything was slow. It was like James was moving at half speed. He could see his hand moving, but couldn’t  _ feel  _ it. Like someone else was doing it for him. He couldn’t feel much of anything; blinking, breathing…. Nothing. His entire body was numb.

“IT WILL TAKE A BIT OF TIME FOR SENSATION TO COME BACK.”

Satan’s voice lacked the crackle it usually did. The weird, ethereal…  _ wrongness _ . It was like a radio station coming in clear after miles of static. It felt weird. He was still loud, like a scream in his friend from a close proximity, but he could  _ understand  _ better. James could feel him, his presence, not an overwhelming air of dread but more of a strong…  _ feeling.  _

“W- i- ufhgfuh-”

His lips had  _ also  _ not regained their feeling. He swallowed, but felt nothing go down his throat. He stared at nothing. He never blinked. He never  _ breathed.  _

“WHILE YOU ARE COMING BACK, I SHOULD EXPLAIN A FEW THINGS.” James could feel Satan behind him, a sort of sixth sense. Like he could feel his every movement without sight, but still knew he was there.

“YOU BLED OUT IN THE PARKING LOT OF THE MOTEL. YOU DIED ON THE WAY TO THE HOUSE. YOU DIDN’T EVEN MAKE IT TO THE DRIVEWAY, JAMES. THE BULLET HIT YOUR HEART, AND AS A RESULT.. THE BLOOD LOSS WAS EXTREME. YOU’D BEEN GONE FOR ALMOST AN HOUR BY THE TIME THEY BROUGHT YOU TO ME.”

James knew that. It was like a primal kind of knowledge, something he knew in his bones before the memory of… whatever that was came back. It was just odd, having to hear it from someone else. Especially considering that he was  _ here now,  _ awake and able to understand it, and not  _ dead in some parking lot.  _

“Wh- what… What d-” James could form some words now. A bunch of gibberish, slurred and garbled on a tongue still trying to find itself. The doctor nodded knowingly as he babbled; it was an act of mercy that was even greater than bringing him back from the brink.

“IT WAS A LONG PROCESS. I DID SOMETHING I’VE ONLY  _ DREAMED  _ OF ATTEMPTING ON A SUBJECT BEFORE; SOMETHING THAT’S ALWAYS ENDED IN COMPLETE AND UTTER FAILURE UP UNTIL NOW. IT’S A BIT TOO EARLY TO KNOW FOR CERTAIN, BUT YOU  _ SEEM  _ STABLE ENOUGH.”

James didn’t feel stable, but sure.

“MY EXPERIMENTS WITH THOSE WHO HAVE MENTAL ILLNESS WAS TO CREATE A SORT OF NEW BREED. THE BRAINS… THEY ALREADY SEEMED TO HAVE A PREDISPOSITION FOR THE SUPERNATURAL. NOT ALWAYS, BUT IT WAS MORE LIKELY. I’M STILL NOT ENTIRELY SURE AS TO WHY. I TRIED, TRIED SO MANY TIMES… TAKING THEIR BRAINS, LOBOTOMIES, LEAVING THEM HUSKS TO DO WHATEVER BIDDING I NEEDED. AND IT WORKED. FLAWLESSLY.”

A lobotomy would explain the splitting headache he had right now. 

“BUT THAT WASN’T THE SAME. I WANTED SOMETHING THAT HAD  _ THOUGHT. SENTIENCE.  _ SOMETHING THAT RETAINED IT’S INDEPENDENCE OUTSIDE OF BEING MY LOYAL SLAVE. THEY WERE ZOMBIES, JAMES. THEY NEVER LASTED… ALWAYS JUST. DECOMPOSING AFTER TIME. THEY HAD NOTHING KEEPING THEM TOGETHER. THE SOULS JUST… LEFT. HOWEVER…”

Doctor Satan finally moved into his line of sight. James had never noticed it before, but the doctor moved…. Fluidly.  _ Too fluid.  _ It was unnerving; every flourish, every step was comically over exaggerated. It was like an alien who studied old Bugs Bunny shorts to learn how to walk. How had he never… noticed this? Before now? 

Now that he thought of it, there was a lot around the room that James hadn’t really noticed before waking up. The lighting was red, overbearingly red, but even through the color he could see the walls. They were moving, all twitching in a mass. James realized with a nauseous feeling; it was flesh. Twitching and throbbing in time with  _ god knows what.  _ Like the entire room was one living  _ thing _ .

“THIS TIME I KNEW. IF I COULD BRING THE SOUL BACK TO THE VESEL, USING THE SAME TREATMENTS I’D TRIED BEFORE… WITHOUT HURTING THE BRAIN… I MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO IT. THAT’S THE TRICK, JAMES; YOU HAD TO HAVE YOUR  _ SOUL  _ TETHERED TO THIS BODY FOR EVERYTHING TO WORK. THAT ALONG WITH THE BRAIN BEING SALVAGED, LEFT INTACT ENOUGH TO RETAIN COGNITION….” 

One of the doctor’s mechanical “legs” tapped at a monitor screen next to James’ bed. It was a normal hospital reader, like one he’d seen when he’d woken up from his surgery years ago. The screen’s LEDS looked odd in the red light.

What was even more odd was the vitals were all showing flat lines. James had no pulse. No oxygen levels. No heart rate. Temperature.  _ Nothing.  _

“What… What’s that. Do you not have it turned on, or….”

“IT’S ENABLED. AND HOOKED UP TO YOU, JAMES. I PUT IT THERE TO SEE IF IT WOULD TRICK THE SYSTEM AFTER YOU STARTED TO RETURN. IT DIDN’T.”

“So it’s… it’s not…”

“WRONG? NO. YOU HAVE NO VITALS BECAUSE THERE’S NOTHING TO GIVE THEM OFF, JAMES. IN THE MEDICAL SENSE, YOU ARE DEAD.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  _ Well fuck. _

How did he even begin to unpack…. What…. What the absolute  _ fuck. _

“YOU CONSCIOUS IS HERE. SOUL IS HERE, TETHERED TO YOUR BODY AS IT IS NOW. YOU CAN FUNCTION AS YOU DID BEFORE EVERYTHING, BEFORE ALL OF THIS HAPPENED.”

“But I’m  _ dead?” _

The doctor nodded. James' headache had gone from a headache to a full blown migraine.

“YOU ARE. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, WE NEED TO HAVE A SERIOUS DISCUSSION ON HOW YOUR DISPOSITION WILL CHANGE GOING FORWARD. THERE ARE THINGS YOU MUST DO IN ORDER TO KEEP YOUR CONDITION STABLE. FOR EXAMPLE; DIET.”

James watched with a numb sort of shock as Satan motioned to something out of view. A new presence, someone behind him, started a projector with a mechanical whirl. Satan’s uppermost arm reached for the screen’s pulley and tugged. There was text, blocky and bold, like something from a health class;

‘WHAT TO EAT’

“AS YOU CAN SEE, FOODS THAT ARE GOOD FOR YOU TO HELP MAINTAIN OPTIMAL FUNCTION ARE HUMAN FLESH. HUMAN ORGANS. HUMAN BONE- INCLUDING MARROW. ANY SORT OF HUMAN BY PRODUCT WILL ALSO WORK, BUT NOT AS EFFECTIVELY AS FLESH. BUT IT MUST BE HUMAN. ANIMAL MEAT WILL NOT WORK. IT MUST COME FROM A SENTIENT BEING.”

The doctor’s words were like sandpaper to his brain, and not in the usual way. The projector clicked as the slide changed, now reading ‘WHAT NOT TO EAT’.

“NOW HERE’S WHERE IT GETS TRICKY. YOU  _ CAN  _ EAT NORMAL FOODS, HOWEVER THEY SERVE NO DIETARY PURPOSE. THEY ARE FOR TASTE ONLY. I CONSIDERED MAKING THEM TASTE FOWL TO YOU AS EATING NORMAL FOODS SERVE NO REAL EVOLUTIONARY PURPOSES, HOWEVER I ASSUMED THAT YOU WOULD FIND THAT UNAGREEABLE.”

Satan looked to James like he was waiting on confirmation.

“....Yeah?”

“JUST AS I THOUGHT.” The slide clicked, changing yet another time. This slide had no big text, only displaying a crude diagram of a body cut in half like it was a medical study. There was text there, but fuck if James could make any of it out.

“SO YOU WILL NOTICE THAT YOU HAVE CHANGED PHYSICALLY AS WELL. YOUR BODY IS STRONGER. MUCH, MUCH STRONGER THAN IT WAS BEFORE. YOU CAN HEAL REMARKABLY WELL. SO WELL, IN FACT, THAT I BELIEVE THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP YOU FROM REGENERATING IS TO BURN EVERY BIT OF YOUR BODY WE CAN FIND. TOTAL MOLECULAR DESTRUCTION. IMMOLATION.”

James winced at the mental image.

“MORBID AS IT IS, YOU’RE FUNCTIONALLY IMMORTAL. IT IS VERY, VERY HARD TO PERMANENTLY DISABLE YOU NOW. WE COULD, OF COURSE, TEST THE LIMITS OF THIS, BUT I WOULD RATHER NOT DO THAT NOW. NOT THIS EARLY ON IN THE STUDY, ANYWAY.”

Referring to this entire  _ thing  _ as a study made James want to puke again. Satan didn’t seem to notice (or, better yet,  _ care),  _ and continued droning on regardless.

“FURTHER, YOU MAY ALSO NOTICE AN INCREASE IN SPEED. A TINY SET OF TEETH AT THE BACK OF YOUR THROAT, BASICALLY ACTING AS A SECOND JAW. EYES THAT LOOK ODD. THAT’S NOTHING THAT I PERSONALLY ADDED, MORE SO A SIDE EFFECT OF THE DARK MAGICS ASSOCIATED WITH MY PRACTICE.”

James raised his hand.

“YES?”

“So… What exactly… did you do? In the first place? I heard dark magics mentioned but you also have me hooked up to an IV.” If the doctor’s mouth wasn’t a jarring, disgusting blob of scar tissue James was sure he’d be smiling at the question.

“GOOD QUESTION! YOU SEE JAMES, I TOOK OLD, DEAD BLACK MAGIC TEACHINGS LONG FORGOTTEN BY MOST MORTALS AND MIXED THEM WITH MEDICAL PRACTICES I’VE STUDIED OVER TIME. THROUGH THE POWERS OF CREATURES NEAR-UNFATHOMABLE TO YOUR FORMERLY MORTAL MIND AND MODERN MEDICINE, I’VE GIVEN YOU THE GIFT OF UNDEATH. I’VE MADE YOU INTO SOMETHING THAT FEW HAVE EVER SEEN, ONLY  _ DREAMED  _ OF. I HAVE MADE YOU INTO… A GHOUL.”

“A… A what? Isn’t that like a zombie? Flesh eating dead thing that stinks and just.. Shuffles around?” 

He wasn’t  _ trying  _ to offend the doctor, especially not after he brought him back, but this all seemed so extreme.

“NOT EXACTLY. VERY SIMILAR TO ONE, BUT NOT EXACTLY THE SAME. THE GHOUL HAS FREE WILL, SENTIENCE, IT’S OWN PERSONALITY. A COMMON ZOMBIE, HOWEVER, IS USUALLY JUST A REANIMATED CORPSE. NOW THE TYPES OF ZOMBIES VARY-”

“Am I gonna start  _ rotting?”  _ James suddenly blurted out. He realized much too late that this was probably disrespectful to Satan, something he  _ shouldn’t  _ have done, but fuck if the idea of rotting alive wasn’t enough to make him pass out. Satan loomed above him like a twisted looking scarecrow. James couldn’t quite read his body language. This was it. He was gone, done for. 

He heard the doctor sigh. 

“THAT’S WHY I LAID THE DIET OUT, JAMES. IF YOU FEED YOURSELF YOU WILL BE FINE. HOWEVER, YOU WILL START TO DECAY MENTALLY IF YOU DON’T KEEP UP WITH YOUR MEALS, WHICH WILL EVENTUALLY RUN THE RISK OF TURNING YOU TO A FERAL SORT OF STATE. THAT’S WHY I STRESS THIS, JAMES; EAT AT LEAST TWICE A DAY.”

“It has to be..  _ People?”  _

“YES.”

“Does it have to be, like, freshly dead? I’m sorry this is annoying-”

“-IT’S NO PROBLEM TO ANSWER, JAMES. I AM YOUR PHYSICIAN, AFTER ALL. IT’S MY JOB TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. AND NO, THE BODY DOES NOT NEED TO BE FRESH AS FAR AS I CAN TELL. AS LONG AS IT’S PRESERVED SOMEHOW AND DECOMPOSITION HASN’T SET IN YOU WILL BE FINE.”

That was… somewhat of a relief. But it was still a lot to process.

“FOR THE TIME BEING I WILL KEEP YOU HERE WITH ME. UNTIL I KNOW YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR IMPULSES AND CRAVINGS AROUND HUMANS. I’M NOT TOO SURE HOW OVERWHELMING IT WILL BE FOR YOU YET. SO WHAT A BETTER WAY TO GAUGE THAT WITH YOUR FIRST MEAL SINCE RETURNING? 

James barely had time to let the words click in his head before he heard some sort of door creak open. The unknown figure from before was standing at it’s entrance, looming like some  _ thing  _ from hell as it led someone behind it. It was a man, in one of the family’s old raggedy bunny suits. He looked  _ haggard.  _ Blown. Like he hadn’t slept in weeks. His eyes were wide, panicked, staring at him in fear as he fidgets around like it could help him. James inhaled on reflex and could smell, smell  _ so much more  _ than he used to. He smelled sweat. Dread. Desperation. But there was something else there. Something lurking just under the surface, a sort of aftertaste on his palette, something intoxicating. Something savory, like he’d never smelled before in his life. At least not like  _ this. _

Meat.

“I SAVED THIS ONE FROM A FEW OFFERINGS AGO. I KNEW THIS WOULD EVENTUALLY HAPPEN, JAMES. I JUST DIDN’T KNOW WHEN. I WANTED TO HAVE SOMEONE ON HAND FOR THE OCCASION. MUCH SAFER THAN LETTING YOU HUNT ON YOUR OWN.”

Satan droned on, but James had long since stopped paying attention. The stupid thing seemed to think he was another victim strapped to a table, a bag of flesh just waiting to be sliced open. He was frantic, begging for help and pleading with him to do  _ something.  _ But James couldn’t focus on what he was saying. All he could hear was his heart, hammering away in his chest like a fucking car engine, loud and deep and booming and….

The restraints keeping him shackled to the table clicked off.

“GO.”

It was a frenzy. The minute he could move his limbs he ran- sloppy, clumsily, on limbs that were fresh to life. If he could see himself, James would’ve thought he looked like Bambi taking his first steps-

-And then immediately making a bee-line for Thumper’s throat.

The rabbit barely had time to process what he was going to do. James was so quick now, so strong. By the time he’d really understood the danger he was in he was already against the wall. James lingered for a moment. The guy’s expression was of  _ pure terror.  _ It was unlike anything he’d ever seen before; his eyes were wide, mouth open in a blank sort of expression he’d only ever seen in animals that were about to get got. 

He screamed. It was something horrible, something tragic. James had heard it plenty of times now. He’d been with the family so long that he was  _ finally  _ at that stage where it just didn’t phase him much anymore. James lunged, moved in towards the man’s chest and dug in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SEE HE DIDNT DIE. OR HE DID. BUT HES LIKE, FUNCTIONALLY ALIVE. ITS OK. GAY PEOPLE CANT DIE IN THIS CANON WERE GOOD


	16. o<:o)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldnt think of a good chapter title so i made you guys a little clown

“We should know soon.” 

Mama had been saying that for over a fuckin’  _ week now _ . Rufus was starting to lose patience. Granted, he’d spent the first three or four days of his wait in and out of some kinda daze. He’d lost blood. Lots of it. Banged his head up somethin’ fierce. The first three days since the incident- that’s what Mama had called it- were a blur of pain.

And all that pain, every little bit he’d been feeling, was  _ nothing  _ compared to the shit he felt when they’d told him the news.

Mama waited to tell him until he’d been coherent for longer than an hour or two at a time. She didn’t want him to forget this conversation. It was important. He  _ needed  _ to be aware of the reality, of what was going on around them. And most important of all.. She didn’t know if she could  _ bear  _ to have to repeat herself like this.

‘James was shot.’ 

He remembered that. It seemed like a nightmare. One minute he was getting into the car, the next his boyfriend, the love of his fucking  _ life,  _ slumped over in a puddle of his own blood. He’d grabbed him, hauled him into the backseat and made after his father-

-He remembered a bang.

‘Got you somethin’ fierce in your gut.’

It felt hot. Insanely hot, like what standing on the surface of the sun musta felt like. Rufus buckled. The feeling of the metal piercing into his stomach obviously caused him to falter. Somehow, someway, it was only for a moment; It was like he shrugged it off. Just blinked and the pain had faded away. Howard looked startled. Like he was watching a ghost ride up from it’s grave, and he fumbled with the gun again- 

-Rufus reached. Reached out and grabbed whatever he could. One hand is all it took to grab him by the neck like a damn chicken and  _ throttle.  _ He shook Howard, shook him like he owed him money, watched his face turn purple. He heard something pop, something snap under his fingers as he lugged him off the ground….

...And then everything got hazy.

‘Charlie managed to get you in the car and get up the road with that fucker in the back but- but he got em’. Right in the chest.’

He remembered bits. Fragments. Someone shouting in the front seat. Pulling up to the house. Charlie apologizing.

‘ ‘Son… He bled out. He was cold by the time he got to the house.’

He didn’t remember that. 

He didn't remember  _ any of that.  _

When he’d been told, he lost it. His room was a mess, trashed as much as his battered body would allow. Rufus wasn’t violent by nature- at least, as far as the family was concerned. But he was  _ livid;  _ Mama had retreated, left him alone except to give him food for days. He hadn’t left, not once. There were clothes littered all over. Posters were tattered, broken messes. 

It was an absolute  _ mess.  _ James would hate it. 

But that didn’t matter now, did it?

Rufus had worn himself out by now. Of course, he could only bellyache so long before he finally collapsed onto his bed in exhaustion. Mama had crept back inside. She just sat there, on a chair James always used to put his laundry on, waiting. Waiting for him to say something, anything.

“Mama…” Rufus’ voice sounded so…  _ broken.  _ It hitched- he hadn’t been doing much other than shouting for the last few days. He wasn’t  _ used  _ to talking now. 

“Mama, how… how are we gonna  _ know  _ if this works?”

She was quiet. She couldn’t…. Couldn’t…. Fuck. How did she approach this?

The entire last week had been a goddamned  _ battle _ .

Charlie’s Cadillac screeched into the drive. Her and Johnny had raced out the front door, partly confused and partly  _ elated.  _ It’d been years since Charlie had come by, between jail and his own demons, and finally,  _ finally,  _ some semblance of normality could come back.

Then she’d seen his panic. The frenzy. The blood staining his shirt. There was someone slumped in the passenger seat.

“Rufus…?” 

The reality hit her quick. 

“Where’s- where’s-”

“Get John, get him OUT HERE.” Charlie barked. She all but ran to the car, the open passenger door. Her baby, her fucking  _ baby-  _ there was a bloodied wound on his stomach. RJ’s eyes were shut, but she could see that he was breathing at least. Mama couldn’t even cry. She just  _ acted.  _ A wad of fabric from a shirt, torn and pressed against the wound to stop what little bleeding was left. Wrapping it. Trying to disinfect as best as she could, with what she had.

“Oh. Oh my  _ god.”  _

John sounded distraught. Mama looked up from the hackjob she was performing on her son and finally,  _ finally  _ looked in the backseat. She dropped her supplies.

In all of her years of living around this, all the years sinking to new depths of depravity, debauchery, violence. Everything she’d done, everything she’d  _ seen  _ done. It was all nothing. Seeing him, sprawled in the backseat, a husk, a withered little  _ shell  _ of a thing. Covered in blood. The wound was on his chest. 

Mama didn’t need to feel him to know he was gone. The color of his body, the way he  _ smelled.  _ James.. James wasn’t…

Fuck.  _ Fuck. _

“Get. Get Otis. Go get Otis, wake his ass up  _ now.”  _

“What’s ol’ ghostboy gonna do about this?” Charlie hissed, “Stash the fuckin’ body somewhere? Ain’t even gonna give the boy a funeral?”

“We can save this. We can  _ fix  _ it.” 

Both John and Charlie looked at her like she was  _ insane.  _ And she was, completely and utterly batshit. But they had a chance. Something, anything they could try. To save this. To save  _ him.  _

“Satan. Down in the fuckin’ tunnels. He can- He can do somethin’-”

“Gloria, girl, he’s  _ gone.”  _ Mama hadn’t noticed it until now, but Johnny was blinking back tears. “The boy’s  _ dead.  _ Ol’ fucker’s just gonna chop his damn body up.”

“But he could  _ save him.  _ I’ve seen him do weirder things! It’s a chance-”

“-To make him some damn ground beef!” John was shouting.  _ Shouting  _ at her. He never so much as raised his voice towards her anymore, let alone  _ shout.  _

“WHAT’S IT GONNA HURT? WHAT OTHER CHOICE WE  _ GOT, JOHN-” _

“...Mama?”

They’d both been so caught up in their mess that Baby slipping onto the scene had gone undetected. She’d always had a hard time understanding death- as a force, that is. She knew how to kill. She  _ definitely  _ knew how to kill. But understanding that life didn’t just… come back because the person who died was someone she loved. It wasn’t something she seemed to get. When Hugo went, she’d had an entire month’s worth of denial. Like something in her head just didn’t  _ click  _ right. 

And Mama partially blamed herself for that. It was something that seemed to very rarely come up in their daily life, at least as far as the family was concerned, but moments where it did… 

Her daughter, her  _ Baby,  _ looking into the backseat and seeing the corpse of her adopted brother and  _ breaking. _

It was shit she didn’t feel capable to handle.

Otis. Otis had come next. Pried Baby away from the car, looked the body over. He poked. Prodded. It felt… Odd. Distasteful. It wasn’t anything unlike they did to the body’s on their land, but James wasn’t  _ just a body.  _ He was  _ family.  _ And Otis was pokin’ at him like he was some slab of beef Mama could cook up for sunday’s roast.

“We might have a chance. He may… He may be able to do  _ something  _ with him. Big fucker in the car’s probably stable enough to just rest it off. But James.. I think. I dunno-”

“Are we takin’ him down there or no?” Baby snarled.

“Yes- Yes! Fuck, we’re takin’ him down there! Will you let me get an idea on what to do? Can’t just barge right down there and demand he do somethin’ about it!”

Ironically enough, that’s  _ essentially  _ what they had done.

Mama had marched down there herself with Otis, carrying James on her back like a damn sack of potatoes. Otis had insisted on knocking, trying to do some sort of ritualistic  _ thing  _ to make sure they weren’t fucked the minute they walked in.

“DOC.” Mama shoved her way past her son and through the doors herself. The doctor was hunched over something on a table, metallic legs chittering like a fucking bug as he… God. She didn’t even  _ know  _ what he was doing. 

“OH. YOU ARE DROPPING JAMES OFF? IS THAT RIGHT?”

He was so  _ casual  _ about this. It made her fucking  _ skin crawl.  _

Satan had literally shoved whatever husk he was looming over off the damn table in his haste. An arm scooped James’ off her shoulders and plopped it where the previous host had been mere moments before.

“I WILL DO THE BEST I CAN. YOU MAY LEAVE NOW.”

“But-”

“-Mama,  _ let’s go.”  _ Otis tugged her towards the door. She wanted to argue. She wanted to fight him on this, fight for that boy against whatever sick  _ shit  _ that thing had planned. But something was forcing her backwards, more than her son just tugging her, like a force making her  _ leave.  _

And everything had just… been at a stalemate sense. Mama tended to what she could. It’s all she could do right now, grab what she could and hold on as hard as possible. Rufus woke, went nuts, trashed his damn room. Damn near went feral with rage. And what could she say to that?

“I don’t know.” 

It wasn’t what he wanted. She knew that. But she didn’t know what else to do. RJ let out a wheeze, a sort of deflated sound that she  _ knew  _ meant he’d started crying again. 

It was wednesday. Mama watched him like a hawk, trying to see if he did much of anything. Thursday there was nothing. Friday there was nothing. Saturday there was nothing. Sunday was the same.

Monday was the day he left.

Rufus was out of his room. Tiny had come for her, letting her know that he wasn’t up there, he was gone, left-  _ out.  _ Mama panicked, of course, ran to see where he was. He was gone, probably god knows where doing fuck knows what and….

….He was in the fields. Sitting. Watching the sunset.

He had a flannel in his hands.

Mama had left it for him the night she’d told him about James. He’d been wearing it that night, when he’d gotten shot. There was blood still caked on it, the chest was warped, burnt by where the bullet had left his chest. It smelled like gunpowder, smoke, blood, metal… And at the same time,  _ him.  _ The deodorant he used- lavender. Sweat. That stupid shampoo he  _ insisted  _ on buying every time they went into town. Underneath it all he was still  _ there.  _

A burning sensation made Rufus blink. He was crying again.

It took a  _ lot  _ for him to cry. He’d never been the most expressive of the family, even after James had come into the picture. But  _ fuck,  _ all he did the last few days was nothing but cry. Tiny had told him somethin’ about the “grieving process” one night after he’d ventured into his room. Said there were stages, like denial, rage- whatever the fuck. He felt like he’d gotten all the stages mixed up; he was depressed, but angry. It was  _ stupid.  _ All of this was so fucking  _ stupid.  _

Rufus tried to rub at his eyes. He couldn’t see shit right now, between his eyes and the sun setting everything looked like one messy _blob._ The trees faded into the orange of the sky, the house blurred into the ground, the figure standing on the hill to his left meshed with the dirt of the-

-RJ froze.

There was a stranger. A body, a silhouette against the setting sun. It didn’t move. Didn’t even looked like it  _ breathed.  _ His rational brain knew it could be anything; a rabbit, escaped from Satan’s den of hell and wandering the grounds looking for help. A random stranger who’s car broke down. Some local from town. 

Rufus knew that shape. Knew that body.

He broke into a run. He ran, Rufus  _ ran  _ towards it, the blip on his horizon, the chance it could actually  _ be  _ James far outweighing whatever caution he’d ignored. The figure didn’t react at first. It just watched him approach, and for a brief moment RJ felt his stomach drop.

Then it ran. Towards him. 

_ He ran towards Rufus. _

Even as the sun slipped beyond the horizon and everything went dark. Even as he almost tripped in a fucking hole in their lawn. Even as he moved quicker than him, covering more ground than Rufus could ever hope to. It was like something primal.

Rufus just  _ knew. _

He crashed into James like a tidal wave. A tsunami of force, taking him into his arms and squeezing. Bringing him up towards his chest, holding him there, locking him in. Like he was afraid if he let go,  _ he’d go.  _ Vanish. Like a mirage, some sick prank played by something unknowable. But he felt him. Felt James, the weight of him in his arms, his body pressed against his like he’d always been. 

Rufus cried. He cried  _ hard.  _ But this was different. His chest didn’t feel as empty. His head didn’t hurt as bad- or, at least, the hurt was manageable now. His eyes stung. His lungs  _ burned.  _

But it was worth it.

“Hey, killer.” James sounded haggard. His voice cracked. His eyes looked sunken; they had bags. His hair wasn’t as curly as it normally was, it looked almost.. Greasy. In all, he looked like a sort of… deflated version of himself. Like he hadn’t been taking care of himself.

Rufus didn’t fucking  _ care. _

“Fuckin’... That’s all you got? You.. You come back from the dead and that’s what you got to say?” 

Rufus punctuated himself with a kiss on James' forehead. His cheek. His lips. The other cheek. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, rinse-

“Well. I mean. What would you say?” James laughed-  _ laughed.  _ The sound was like gold. So sweet, so pretty- something he never thought he’d hear again. Rufus didn’t really respond; too caught up in awe at just…  _ seeing him.  _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little gay boy got to go back and be with his little gay family and well thats just great i guess o<:o)


	17. fallout: my boyfriends fucking [redacted]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hahaha wait what do you mean its not that easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its a metaphor

Overstimulation.

The minute he’d crossed the threshold of the house he’d felt like passing out. The family, was so much. So, so much- overbearing, loving, loud,  _ caring…. _ . He was passed around between people; Mama’s bearhug. Spaulding’s stern lecture, screaming and hollering at him like he’d shat on the carpet, all while he was bawling his eyes out. Charlie paled. Like he’d seen a ghost or something. Realistically speaking, he wasn’t  _ that  _ far off. Despite his misgivings, Charlie gave him a curt nod and a pat on the back.

“Thought you was a fuckin’ goner, kid. Shit…” 

James needed to clarify now. Before things got further off the rails, before they got too close. They  _ needed  _ to know about what he was stuck as, what he was-

-Something grabbed him by the waist. He was hoisted up, up up up up and up until he was practically crushed against a chest. He could hear something rattling around him, the body was shaking, jolting and stuttering like an old clunker trying to start.

“TINY! You put him  _ down!  _ Poor boy can’t breathe like that-”

“PUT EM’ DOWN! PUT EM’ DOWN I WANNA GET EM NEXT!”

Baby was beating at Tiny’s side like a kid throwing a tantrum. James heard a wheeze, choked and garbed behind his hair, and realized Tiny was  _ crying.  _ He could feel drops of wet on his scalp, plopping onto him like the roof had a leak or something. Baby damn near started to shimmy up Tiny’s side before he finally dropped James back to the floor. It was like he went from the frying pan and right into the fire; Baby descended, taking him into her own grip and covering him like a fucking blanket. She shook him and  _ snarled;  _

“JAMES JAMES JAMES IMSOFUCKINGMADTHATYOUDIEDANDTHEN-”

Whether or not she was actually rambling that quickly or he was just  _ that  _ overstimulated was beyond him. It was like he could hear her but  _ couldn’t  _ at the same time. Her lips were moving, she looked upset, could  _ see  _ she was screaming by the way her face was blotchy and red, but fuck if he could hear. She’d grabebd him by the shoulders and dug into his skin there before finally,  _ finally  _ Spaulding separated them.

“-Baby, Baby  _ enough.”  _

It was like the dam had broken. All it took was one sentence from her dad for her screaming to turn to silence, turn to hiccups, and then….

“I- I thought you were  _ gone  _ gone!” She howled, breaking into tears, “Like you was dead for good or- or-”

She devolved into a babble of crying. James winced, feeling like his head was about to split in fuckin’ two. 

“I think I’m technically dead?”

He blurted it out. Not really thinking about the implications of what he was saying. He’d needed to tell them, sure, but as the room died he felt like  _ that  _ wasn’t the best way to do it. Everyone just sort of… Stopped. Talking. Shouting. Fighting. It was like a switch was flipped, and everyone was just… Off now. 

“I don’t have a pulse anymore. Satan said I was medically dead.”

Mama approached. Slowly. Her eyes were wide, like she was skeptical of this. Her hand found his wrist, two fingers on the vein there. She looked confused. The hand moved to his neck, pressing against the jugular, moving around like she was missing something. 

“John… John he ain’t lyin’. I don’t feel nothin’.” 

It was odd. She looked confused, sure, but she didn’t really seem… shocked. It seemed to be expected that after dealing with the Doctor for so long, Mama had probably seen some crazy ass shit. But it was still somewhat unnerving, her almost resignment to the living dea din her fucking living room. 

“Alright,  _ fuck this.”  _ Charlie spat. He looked scared, unsettled, frantic- probably the only person in the damn house with any kind of sense. “I’m goin’ to my damn room. I reached my limit for freaky-ass shit.”

No one stopped him when he went up the steps. The room was so quiet they could hear the door slam. The radio blast to life. James could even hear Charlie’s lighter flick on, smell the puff of smoke from his-

He blinked. The room was still quiet. Everyone’s eyes were on him. None of them could pick up on it. 

“Your… James. James why your eyes lookin’ like that?” Mama didn’t take a step back. She wasn’t scared, from what James could tell at least. He couldn’t smell it. Her heart did pick up a bit, but it was more so from…. Anxiety. As if she was finally starting to come to terms that he did  _ something  _ to him down there.

James twitched. Blinked again. He could feel himself shift back to normal. Easing back into himself. His mouth felt dry. Cottony. He coughed, and it was a rattling-raspy mess. 

“I’m…. I need- I need a second to get myself together. I’m fine- I mean, I’m dead, but I’m  _ here. _ And I’m not going anywhere! _ ”  _ It was dismissive. Very, very clearly dismissive. He felt bad about it, sure, but he  _ needed  _ to go. Quickly, he went to the banister and made his way up the stairs. He took a few steps at a time, almost gliding up to the top.

“Just.. Just give me a second.”

He didn’t wait for a response; he could hear Mama start with a question, but he moved on regardless. With a quick swipe the door to RJ’s room slammed shut. It was just him now. James. Alone. In a room that looked wrecked beyond all belief. There were clothes all around him, tossed on the floor, thrown against the wall- hell, some of them looked  _ torn.  _ A poster was ripped. Food was left wasting on the damn tables. Trash everywhere. 

The smell was overwhelming. 

Rot. Spoiling food. Trash just left to stack for days on end. Sweat. Musk. The smell of his body, sticking to the flannels on the floor like their lives depended on it. The oily mechanical scents from his garage. Their incense they’d burn on cool nights, that made the entire room smell like a spice rack….. 

  
  


“Babe?”

The voice drew him out of it. Back to reality. Rufus was here, in the room, behind him. He couldn’t see him with his eyes, but he could tell he was there. Shaking. Apprehensive. James felt something wet slide down his chin, out of his mouth. Drool. 

Oh. Oh  _ fuck. _

“I need- I need a second.” James growled through clenched teeth. “Can you go back downstairs? I gotta- I gotta get a hold of myself.”

“I waited.. I waited a week. And I get you need your space… But you can’t just say you went n’ died an’ expect nobody to worry.”

He moved. Closer into the room. He was right behind him now, and before James could dart away he felt RJ’s hand on his shoulder. Steadying him. Tethering him to reality. 

It smelled  _ so fucking good. _

“I can tell you’re strugglin’. Babe, look at you. You don’t  _ look  _ like you. You’re shakin’ and a mess an’- an’ I’m scared. I dunno what he did to you, but I’m  _ scared.”  _

James could hear his own breathing now. It was hard. Panting. Labored. He  _ was  _ shaking. But it was only because this big fucking  _ lug didn’t know when to run. _ Everything in his head was screaming, telling him to hold back, to bite, to run, to tear, to eat, to maul, to  _ kill- _

“I’m just hungry.” It sounded pained. The shaking hadn’t stopped, only intensified. James didn’t know how much longer he could hold out.

“Then  _ eat.”  _ Rufus insisted, “Mama can go an’ make you somethin’ if it’ll mean you calm down.”

“Satan changed me. I need specific stuff now babe.”

“Like what?”

James sucked in a breath through his mouth. The smell still lingered there, not as strong but still there, lingering,  _ teasing.  _ Fuck.

“He said I needed to eat people. Like.. Fresh people.”

It was like this was some sort of test. A game that shriveled fucksack wanted to play to see how long he could last. He’d starved him, let James go without eating for an entire day before coming back up. This is how they went down, just waiting for him to snap and give into his hunger and tear through the entire house like some sort of viscous-

“Are… Are you- James.” 

It wasn’t that Rufus sounded  _ mad,  _ exactly, it was more so that he sounded disappointed. James met his face only to see that his features were pressed into a tight frown. He had a hand to his temples and the other balled into a fist so tight his knuckles were white.

“We got ‘bout 4 different bodies in the meat freezer downstairs. The basement. You should  _ know  _ this by now.”

Oh.  _ Oh.  _

James could feel his mouth water again. 

“Hun. I quite literally butcher meat for all the food we eat here. You was already eatin’ people to begin with. Do you gotta have it raw?”

He… He didn’t really think about that? 

“I don’t… I don’t know? I ate it fresh down there- Can we get going? I’m really, like-” RJ nodded. He grabbed James and hoisted him over his shoulder like a sack.

“Nuthin’ personal. You’re just all jumpy’s all. I don’t want you tryin’ to run off and munch on anyone down there y’know?”

James grunted. Even if he was offended by being touched like this, he couldn’t really argue with that. The door opened. Other voices, family asking if they were ok. RJ deflecting. It was like a barrage, a mess of stimuli, he didn’t know where to focus on. When he pulled himself away from the living room he realized his face was pressed directly into RJ’s shoulder. The skin, the flesh, the body heat…

No.  _ No.  _

The door to the basement creaked open. It took forever, too long to get down the fucking stairs. When Rufus put him down and opened the hatch to the freezer James  _ descended.  _ It looked like a frenzy. Every scene from Jaws rolled into one person. Flesh flew. Bones cracked as he snapped them in his maw, sucking marrow out like something primal. In an instant he’d managed to demolish most of a torso, a leg, a few fingers…. God knows what else. Rufus stood back in a dumb sort of shock as he watched him suck up what little gristle remained from the upper body.

His boyfriend heaved. Hovering over the freezer with blood and grime dripping from his face. His eyes were black, black and red, and his teeth looked much sharper than they should have. There were sharp claws where his fingernails should be. The veins in his wrists, his arms, neck- all of them were dark. Sickly looking. When he licked his lips he saw into his mouth- there were more teeth. At the back. All even sharped than his normal ones. 

It was messy. Terrifying. Blood, gore, grime splattered to his skin like a child trying to eat for the first time. Bone fragments in his beard, his facial hair, stuck like bits of dust clinging to him. When he smiled it was wide,  _ too  _ wide, and he could see bits of muscle and gristle stuck between his fangs.

James moved. His eyes were stuck to Rufus, glued to him as he almost glided across the floor. Before he knew it RJ could feel hands on his neck, bringing him down towards James. Rufus knew that this was dangerous. This was, beyond any doubt in his mind, possibly the stupidest fucking thing he could do. He closed his eyes and braced himself. 

James connected with his lips. It felt light, gentle, just like it normally did. A tongue probed it’s way into his mouth, and Rufus could taste the tang of blood on him. 

“Hey… Killer. Welcome back.” 

RJ watched in relief as the person in front of him shifted; slowly, the eyes left, the teeth, the claws… And it was just James. His boyfriend. Back again, looking healthy and normal. Like  _ nothing  _ had happened. James lingered, pulling away from him with an expression of worry.

“I’m.. Fuck. I’m so sorry Rufus.”

Rufus looked confused. 

“ _ Why _ ?” 

James looked incredulous. 

“ _ Why?  _ Rufus, I scared the  _ shit  _ out of everyone up there! I was all moody and weird and I was  _ this close-”  _ James pinched two fingers together, “-To ripping your fucking throat out!”

Fuck. That was…  _ Fuck. _

“.....I mean.. You were just a lil’ hungry’s all?” RJ offered cautiously. To be honest, he had  _ no clue  _ how to really respond to this. “It happens.” 

“Yeah? I feel like most people don’t try eating their family over it though.”

“Maybe so.” Rufus agreed with a nod.“But nobody’s perfect.”

Silence. RJ’s expression was neutral. A stoic neutral. James knew what that meant. Internally, Rufus was shutting down. Hitting a brick wall to escape from having to process whatever the fuck this was exactly. 

“....You’re taking this all remarkably well.” James probed cautiously. RJ just kind of nodded at first. And kept nodding. And nodding. Slowly, his expression unraveled. Crumbled. He let out a sound, low and airy, like a balloon losing deflating.

“This is all so much to take in.”  _ Finally.  _ “You.. You died. You  _ died.  _ In front of me, James. You bled out and… And they couldn’t……” Rufus kind of trailed off.. He looked tired. Haggard. Like the last week or so had aged him  _ years.  _ His eyes went to the floor, staring at the ground instead of having to look James in the eye.  __

“I never really thought I’d have to live without you, and then… Then that kinda became my life. Or it was, at least. But now you’re back, an’ that’s great. But you’re all…. Different now.”

“Yeah? I mean… Yeah. I am. It’s so weird. Like.. I’m  _ dead.  _ But I’m not. I’m here.. Walking around… I can feel things. Like I know I love you. And I love them. I felt it when I walked in. It’s just the urge to eat… To wanna…..” James shook his head.

“You don’t gotta go on. I can tell it’s freakin’ you out.” 

“I feel like a fucking  _ freak!  _ I wanted to eat my family first thing when I walked in instead of being glad I’m home! I feel like this is just proof I can’t be normal anymore. I can’t be around people.”

“You seem fine now that you ate.” Rufus insisted, “We just gotta keep an eye on that’s all. I’m sure once we got time to explain all of them’ll understand too. Mama ain’t one to just give up on somebody cause’ somethin’ happens. I mean, fuck, she’s kept that pasty motherfucker upstairs around for years without kickin’ his ass out. If she can tolerate him, she can live with you wantin; to munch on people every now an’ then.”

James went quiet. Something hot was pricking at his eyes, and when he wiped he saw tear stains on his hand. At the very least he knew he could still  _ cry. _

“You’re willing to put up with me being some…Ghoul thing? For the rest of our lives? Won’t you get tired of having to keep up with that? Is it.. Is it even worth it?”

Without a word Rufus brought him in. James's head rested against his chest, right below his pecs. His favorite spot. He could hear his heartbeat, feel the heat from his body, his breathing… It was nice. So nice. Especially now that he wasn’t fighting the urge to rip into his chest like a fucking hyena.

“I wouldn’t trade dealin’ with your weird lil’ zombie ass for the world. I won’t get tired of it cause it’s you. An’ I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like idk WHAT the metaphor is but like death of the author use your imaginations


	18. bob ross but hes ugly and has bad facial hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Otis works on his latest project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you motherfuckers thought i was dead huh. you thought "damn, hes gonna end it on some sappy shit where james and rj kiss after james eats a bunch of flesh off a corpse" huh. you thought that was done? just cause i was away for a month? think again bitch! 
> 
> this is short but im literally just trying to get a feel for writing again.

Howard hurt.

Everything in his body  _ ached.  _ It was like he’d been shoved through a meat grinder and sloppily pieced back together in a mockery of a person. Every nerve, every tendon- pain.  _ Agony.  _

The blonde guy. The one with the weird eyes. He was the first one he remembered. It’d been… fuck if he knew how long. He was in a basement. Somewhere with little light; there was a window, sure, but nothing really got in. It reeked. Like water, mildew,  _ rot…. _

….The bodies next to him, festering in a pile like waste was probably contributing to that.

“Look at you. You slimy, no good fuckin’ waste a’  _ shit.”  _ The blonde snarled. He seemed to have some kind of bone to pick. Chains rattled. Howard was raised, higher and higher and higher and higher and higher.

His feet. Something was keeping his feet tethered to the ground. Every crank of the handle, every inch the chains rose, his feet were planted. It stretched him, it  _ hurt;  _ muscles pulling more than they should. He heard a few pops, felt flares of pain up his legs, his back and spine. He sounded like a sheet of bubble wrap. Snapping. Popping. Clacking.

Finally, it stopped. The ropes around his ankles were digging into the flesh around his bone. He couldn’t see, but he was almost positive he was bleeding. The pale fucker in front of him seemed satisfied with his work. With a smirk he walked towards him, some kind of long iron  _ thing  _ in his hands.

“So tell me. You feel like you accomplished anythin’ with this?” He was so casual with the question. Like he was having a chat over some coffee and not brandishing god-knows-what as Howard dangled from the rafters.

“O- of course.” Howard choked, and it wasn’t a lie. If there was one thing making the pain, the absolute agony of feeling his body pulled and twisted like a pretzel worth it, it was knowing he’d won. His ungrateful ass of a kid was dead. The other one, the huge fucker he’d grabbed was probably not too far behind. In one swoop he’d managed to completely shatter the foundation of this house, the family, like it was nothing. In one swoop he’d changed them forever. 

If he died here, he died knowing that at least he went out with a bang. He couldn’t hide the satisfied grin on his face. A life of control wrapped up with one final fuck-you to anyone who  _ dared _ to wrong him. 

“You really think that?”

The tone. Something about his tone made Howard second guess himself. Otis watched him with a fire in his eyes, intense and smoldering and absolutely  _ full  _ of contempt.

“Really? Heh. Well, shit. I dunno if I should go on then! Continue my lil’ speech I had prepared. I mean, I don’t wanna send you off to the pit with bad news-” He stopped mid sentence and broke into a laugh. Howard’s face twitched, and whatever composure he’d had a grip on left in a heartbeat. Otis watched his eyes widen, his jaw go slack as he realized  _ something  _ was wrong. In a moment, his entire composition changed and his world came crashing down around him.

It was  _ Fantastic.  _

“Shit. Who am I kiddin’? I’d  _ love  _ that.” He said between pants. With a dramatic noise he cleared his throat. “Your son’s alive, bubba.”

It was like the dam broke. 

“W- Wh- that’s impossible- I got em’ in the fuckin’ chest with a fourty an-”

“-An’ he’s watchin’ TV in the livin’ room right upstairs! A modern day fuckin’ miracle.” Otis moved towards a table and grabbed a handheld blowtorch. He laid the iron bar in his hands down on the table and aimed the torch at the exposed end, With a flash, the entire room was engulfed in a bright glow. It was almost too much; Howard’s eyes couldn’t take it. He looked away. At the ceiling. The wall behind Otis. The floor. Until finally,  _ finally,  _ the light died down.

The iron still glowed. It was only a fragment of what he’d just seen, but it was there. Orange and red and yellow and almost shimmering with heat.

“Now… Really. I wanna enjoy this. Go ahead and let whatever you wanna say out.”

“You  _ fucker-” _

Otis absolutely  _ beamed  _ as Howard raged. Screamed. Hissed. Bucked against his restraints like a damn wild animal. It was absolutely  _ pathetic,  _ and if anything he was almost disappointed. He’d been expecting some bigshot crime boss who’d apparently kept an entire city under his thumb for years to last a little longer. Not buckle five minutes into the damn session, before he’d even started jabbin’ him.

But here they were. And honestly, this show, this entire situation of watching him holler and whine until he got red in the face was better than  _ Christmas.  _

“I know what I said, but  _ hell-  _ you look like a fuckin’  _ bitch  _ right now.” 

When he’d jabbed the metal against his chest, sudden and unannounced, Howard’s protests got even louder. He’d shrieked, pleaded with him until Otis was almost certain his damn vocal cords had shred in two. Eventually, he stopped screaming. He’d still struggled, whimpered, bucked around and twitched as he sculped his flesh like it was clay. But at the very least he wasn’t fucking  _ cryin’  _ no more.

When Howard came to, his chest was numb. The pain was still there, but it felt distant. Sort of like he was feeling them through another layer of skin, a shirt on top of his bare flesh that tried to muffle any twinge he could’ve felt. It was odd. Disorienting. He still couldn’t move his arms or legs.

“...In the middle stages of it now. Shit. I dunno how long it’ll take, Mama! Just keep em’ busy till’ it's done! I wanna have this be a big surprise for em’. A lil’ welcome back present.”

There was muttering. Loud clatter at the top of the stairs. Footsteps clunking down them, stopping at the bottom and throwing something against a wall with a clang. 

“I gotta have you done by the end of the night. Shit… I’m workin’ with a time crunch now. Don’t they get that art takes  _ time? Effort?” _

Howard wanted to move. He wanted to struggle. Lift his arms, kick his legs. Even growl, groan,  _ scream.  _ Something to let his displeasure with this situation be known. But something was wrong. Every time he tried to move his body there was nothing. He didn’t so much as sway an inch. His speech was the same; nothing. No garbled, awkward sounding growls. No groaning. No moans of pain.  _ Nothing.  _

  
“Lucky for me I already got you outta your skin for the most part. Now we just gotta get everything else worked over and we’re good to go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the reason i was gone for like, a month or whatever was because like. litearlly 2-3 days after i posted that last chapter my car died. like the transmission blew. body valve cracked. it was bad. my dads all like shit i can order you a new trans and everyones like dude its a 2002 for taurus its not worth it. my dads like damn i got you tho ill order it you can pay me back itll be cheaper than getting a new car, and hes not WRONG like it is. also i dont have a say because i dont have money here im just kind of vibing and even if i did i dont know cars. so he gets the part in. then they take forever getting to the damn thing. week after it breaks hes like shiiiit theyre having issues with misfiring. we take a week to fix that. they get the trans in the car. the car wont fucking move. so hes like. theres an issue with the new trans. then his guys get back w him and hes like dude theres a wiring issue. so hes like shit your cars just done just start looking for new ones ig and i have no clue waht im doing at all whatsoever and im kinda panicking. last friday (3 week mark) i get a call. "hey i fixed you car wanna come pick her up". so i get to go get it and thank GOD its fixed im so happy but now i gotta worry about the bill for the trans and labor and shit and thats like, an entire thing. 
> 
> part of what kept me from writing is apparently having your car like, basically kind of explode and go poopy kills whatever muse you have to write about your shitty little self insert and his huge, hulking muscle man cannibal bf. who couldve known! but now im fucking back with whatever the hell this is, even tho theres only like one or two more chapters till were done here!
> 
> HOWEVER
> 
> i do have sooort of an idea for part 3 so theres that. my disgusting shitfic hell is endless! dont forget your here forever folks <3


	19. the best revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “....Does it ever go away?”
> 
> “What?”
> 
> “That… Weird feeling. The sting.”
> 
> The gang has a party. James thinks about some stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh shit i didnt forget about this im just busy as fucking hell now

“Is this needed?”

The blindfold they’d wrapped around his head was course. Stiff. Awkward. And not to mention, completely and utterly  _ useless.  _ His senses were far beyond anything that could be stopped by a blindfold now. He could still see through the material. It was thin. Cheap.

“Yes.” Mama sounded so firm. So  _ final.  _ Like this was the most important thing on the damn planet. 

“Mama, why the hell do I have to have this on? Is it… Is it really necessary?”

“It’s a  _ surprise! _ !” She insisted. “We wanted to do something after the last couple weeks of hell. You earned it. After all this, you know….

James could feel her do an awkward shrug. James could see how exhausted she looked, even through the fabric. She seemed so worn down, so  _ tired.  _

“Yeah.” 

It was all he could manage. Mama sighed. Took a breath. When she opened her eyes, she was projecting her usual cordial cheer once again.

“Well, shit. Enough of that. Otis worked real hard on this, and he can’t  _ wait  _ for you to see it.”

“Otis... Otis did something for  _ me?”  _ That was enough to catch him off guard.

“Yes! He’s been down in that basement workin’ like a damn dog! And oh, how I  _ told  _ him he needed to hurry! I wanted it done by tonight and he got it done  _ just  _ in time!”

“Damn near was rushed.”

Otis’ voice had a sort of edge to it that was unmistakable. James didn’t need to see to know what his face looked like; a grimace, brows knit and eyes worked into a glare as he glowered at them from across the room like a kid who got his favorite toy taken away. James heard Mama grunt. Otis shuffled, and he could almost  _ smell  _ the new fear ooze off him. 

“Gloria, will you tell Casper the Bitchy Ghost to wheel in that damn thing so we can get started? Been sittin’ so long my ass done fused to the fuckin’ chair!”

Spaulding. Before either Mama or Otis could run their mouths, he had to interrupt. He shouldn’t have been caught off guard by him being there, but he was. James focused- this was weird, still, all of this shit was weird, but he was getting better at it. Baby was here too, and so was Tiny, and…..

There was movement from behind him. James could feel him coming, felt him approach, and eased into it. Rufus’ arms were around his ribs, pulling him into a hug as he all but crushed him. His lips were on his hair, his forehead, his cheek- finally, He spun James around to face him. RJ’s hand brought his chin up, and the next thing James felt was his lips on his. Everything stopped, the overwhelming sensations around him, the sounds of people moving, their heartbeats, the smells- all of it was replaced by  _ him.  _

“Real fuckin’ nice that y’all’s huggin’ up on each other but again, my ASS is fused to the DAMN WOOD.”

James pulled away and was almost immediately brought back to reality. There were other people in the room, watching them, breathing, blinking, swallowing. He could hear it all. Even blindfolded, he could see Rufus scrunch his nose, frown, get all defensive- James could sense it. Even before, he knew him like the back of his own hand. Every quirk, every brow furrow, lip twitch. He just  _ knew. _

“Shut up.” Rufus growled. The rest of the family cackled like a pack of hyenas, and James heard him huff.

“Just take me in there. You know they’re gonna be rowdy. I dunno how you managed to get them all rounded up to  _ begin  _ with.”

“Bribed em’. With food. An uhhh…” Rufus started towards the dining room. In a moment he was deposited into the chair nearest to them, plopped onto the wood like it was nothing. Had he still been normal, it probably would’ve stung.

“They kinda love you or whatever.”

“No the fuck we don’t.” Otis hollered from the other side of the room. “Now keep your fuckin’ blindfold on. I busted my ass on this shit, an’ I see so much as a damn PEEK from you I’m cuttin’ your eyeballs out. Put em’ up in my room, keep em’ in a jar….”

James could hear wheels rolling against the cracked hardwood.

“....Maybe pickle one of em’. Probably be good….”

“Are you done?” James snorted.

“Fuck you.”

“Everyone’s here… Alright! We ready?” Mama was hovering somewhere behind them. James could feel her, warm and glowing with excitement. “Rufus, take the blindfold off.”

Fingers against the fabric. Tugging, gently, much more tender than anything he actually needed. James blinked in the light, the setting sun pouring into the room jarring after the darkness he’d sat in for the past hour or so.

“What…. What is…”

A man hung before him. Not from a single meathook, but from hooks. Plural. Various types of hooks. Some small, some big, all of them snarled into the flesh like a snare. The body was shaved of all hair, and the skin of the chest was practically scrubbed raw. Or at least, James  _ thought  _ that’s what the irritation was. On closer inspection, he realized that the irritation was an etching. The skin was irritated from burns, punctures, pin pricks that would cause scarring. Some of the skin almost looked as if it was carved away, chiseled like stone until it made the final picture; a goat’s head. In full, graphic detail that  _ had  _ to have taken a metric fuck ton of time to master.

“You did-.”

James was at a loss for words. He knew, obviously, that the family had to love him. He wasn’t  _ dead,  _ so that meant they were at least fond of him. But seeing this on a body, so painstakingly carved and crafted for him- for  _ him. _

“You fuckin’ crying?” Otis sneered. “Pussy ass bitch is  _ cryin’  _ over this?”

“Otis! Shut the fuck up! He just died like a week ago!” Baby hissed. “Probably cryin’ cause’ your ‘presents’ gonna start stinkin’ the minute they put it in his room. “Who does scarification on a corpse anyway?”

“He ain’t dead yet. Old fucker’s still alive. The hell you take me for?” Otis spat. With a flourish he jabbed his finger into the raw chest of the man in front of him. “Just drugged up nice an’ good so he can’t do nothin’. What good would it do if he couldn’t see his boy in the flesh one last time?”

That threw James off.

“He’s alive? And it’s….”

Otis nodded.

“Surprise! That’s what makes it all so special- now this sack of pigshit’s good for somethin’.”

The pit in James stomach felt odd. He knew that he wasn’t in danger; not here, not with the family. They were on the land. They were together again. Most of all, he was  _ different  _ now. He could take down whatever life could throw at them and then some. He was viscous. A predator. Reborn into his old body, but with a certain… edge. Cruelty. A bite that wasn’t there before, teeth that weren’t there before. By all accounts, he was untouchable.

But this man.

No, this.. Thing. Object. He was barely a person anymore, stretched out and mutilated before him. It was stupid. It was very stupid, to be as offput as he was. He fucking  _ ate people  _ now. He  _ killed.  _

And the sight of the man who tortured him all those years, put him through hell, made him suffer…. It was still enough.

It was like his brain short circuited. Went all numb. He wasn’t really aware of everything around him; he could hear everyone chatter around him, feel them tug him along to look at something. Watched them eat. Hell, he even  _ talked  _ at some points. But something was… Off. He didn’t feel there, entirely.

…

“I know what it’s like.”

Otis and James had been staring at nothing for the past hour. Howard’s body hung in the corner of the living room like a garish sort of birthday decoration. A morbid pinata. Mama had insisted of leaving him here as both a testament of her son’s artistic abilities and to their victory. A warning. She was just as proud of what Otis had done to preserve him as she was proud of the carnage itself. The blood. The death. Her family being  _ alive  _ when he wouldn’t be.

James swallowed a bit. Looked up at the strung-up body in front of them. 

“Mama and Cutter’s been good to you.”

“I’m adopted. Had people before them.” Otis didn’t make eye contact. Up until he’d opened his mouth, James had assumed he’d been unaware he’d even  _ been  _ there. “It sucks. When uh… When the ones you start out with ain’t good. It’s shit.”

James couldn’t take his eyes off the dangling thing before him.

“That’s my dad….” 

It seemed so surreal. He hadn’t so much as moved since they’d wheeled him out. Had an entire dinner. Celebrated. Had  _ fun.  _ Was he still here? Alive?

“That ain’t your dad. That motherfucker helped bring you here. But he don’t gotta be your dad.”

It was dark. Everyone else had gone to bed; Mama had too much to drink. Slurred some kind words to the rest of them, hugged James hard enough for his ribs to crack. Cried into his shoulder. Told him how much she loved him, to never, ‘ _ ever do some dumb shit like that again or so-help-me-boy-I’ll-kill-you-again-myself”- _ before finally being whisked away to her room. Spaulding had left earlier in the night. He had a business to run, after all, and the family’s parties tended to drag well into the next morning. Baby was asleep on the floor, sprawled out in front of the couch in a drunken stupor.

“....Is it that easy though?”

Baby snorted in her sleep. She had drool leaking from her mouth, sleep caked around the corners of her lips, hair tangled and sticky from the beer she’d spilled on herself hours ago. She was a sort of primal energy, an animal that didn’t care for petty issues normal human beings dealt with. She would have no problem casting Howard out of her life. She would kill him herself, without warning, like some sort of divine intervention from the gods. Baby was her own force of nature, as fickle and unpredictable as the weather back home. 

James could only wish he was as powerful. 

He knew talking about this to Otis of all people was stupid. Absolutely, positively  _ stupid.  _ He wasn’t the type to really empathize with anyone. Hell, James was still at a loss on if he could feel at  _ all.  _ It should’ve been Baby he was talking too- at the very least she’d humor him with some kind of empathy. 

“Nope.”

That made James stop. He dared to look to his left, give Otis a confused glance for the first time since they’d started this vigil. Otis had a sort of unearthly glow to him in the moonlight; he almost always had a sort of  _ look  _ to him, of course, but James had never noticed how bright it seemed until now. His eyes were dark. They were always dark. But James had never noticed the bags that framed them. The creases along their sides. Crows feet. The land had it’s weird, magic, satan  _ shit  _ keeping everything running. Everything living. 

Otis looked tired.

They couldn’t waste away physically. Mentally, however…..

  
  


“....Does it ever go away?”

“What?”

“That… Weird feeling. The sting.”

Otis snorted. Laughed. Shook his head.

“What?”

“ _ What?”  _ Otis mimicked in a falsetto. “You just came back from death. You… You went and dealt with a minor demon, became some sorta  _ thing  _ and you’re preoccupied with your daddy issues?”

Silence. James focused on the other side of the room, the one without the hanging trophy to a childhood of neglect and abuse.

“...It doesn’t. It doesn’t leave. You’re gonna hate him for the rest a’ your life.”

“Then what’s the point, then?”

“In what?”

“In… You know. Living.” 

“....Living.”

James huffed.

“Yes, living. That’s what I asked.”

“No. You ain’t gettin’ what I meant, kid. It’s livin’. The reason you keep goin’ is cause’ in shit like this- fuckers like  _ that-  _ the best revenge you could possibly get is livin’ after it. Goin’ on. Bein’ you. Even after they tried to stomp it out of you.”

James let himself look back at his father. The hanging, limp  _ thing  _ in the corner. 

“He ain’t got nothin’ over you now. He may have back then, back before, but that ain’t now. ‘Nother hour or two he’s probably gonna be gone. Then we’re gonna start takin’ him out back to preserve em’, mummify the body, maybe get some brin-”

Otis stopped himself when he realized that James was staring. He was getting carried away. 

“.....My point was. He ain’t nothin’ but nothin’ soon. He never was. But now, he  _ really  _ ain’t nothin’. He’s about to be dead. Gone. And whatever comes next is gonna swallow him whole and shit him out. And you’re gonna still be here. With us. And people who….. You know.”

Otis cleared his throat. Made a gesture with his hand.

“...What?”

“You know.” Otis insisted. James just kept his blank expression. Otis scrunched his nose. “ _ Fine.  _ People who might even  _ love you.  _ Fuck.”

“Including you?” James asked. Otis looked absolutely fucking  _ livid.  _ His pale face turned red, frown growing until it was almost cartoonishly exaggerated. 

“ _ Including  _ you!” 

“Fucking stuff it.” Otis barked. “Shit. Can’t you go bother your fuckin’ oaf upstairs with your daddy issues stead’ of me? I’m tired of this shit.”

James slid off the couch and made his way to the staircase. The entire climb up, he could feel Otis watching him. Studying him. James let himself steal a glance at the living room one last time before he lost visual. Otis looked relieved, almost, watching him go. Actual human emotion looked odd on him.

It was scary, if he was being honest with himself.

The door to his room creaked. It always creaked when they opened it; a side effect of being an old door in an even older house. But tonight, it seemed to creak even louder than usual. Loud enough to wake the huge lump on the bed in front of him, sending it scrambling in a mess as it flopped over to face him.

“...James?” RJ’s voice was heavy with sleep. His eyes were heavy, hair sticking to his neck from sweat. He hadn’t turned any of the fans in the room on- James usually remembered to do that- and the consequences made him look like some kind of swamp monster. 

James made his way to the edge of the bed. Rufus shifted a little, wrapping his arms around him and working him into the mattress next to him.

“What time is it?”

“Dunno. It’s late.”

“What took you so long? You get hungry?” 

Rufus said it so  _ casually.  _ Of course, most of the family did. What reason would they have to put emphasis on eating a person? They were  _ cannibals.  _ Of course they didn’t care. It didn’t stop James from thinking they would, one day, just up and change their minds. Label him as some sort of freak, as irrational as that thought was. 

James was thankful for him. For this. 

“Nah. I just kinda.. Hung out.”

“With who? Baby was on her way out when I went up here.”

“Oh you know… Uh… Otis.”

“ _ Otis?”  _

“Yeah?”

“Otis don’t  _ hang out.  _ Did he… Did he try an’ do anything? Run a weird test or…. Shit. Want me to beat his ass?” 

Rufus’ tone had an edge to it. Gone was the huskiness of his sleepy, half-awake doze. He was fully, one hundred percent committed to whatever threat he had in mind.

“No- No! Shit, he was fine, babe. I swear. We just talked.”

Rufus eased. His grip on James tightened, brought him closer into his chest. His face pressed into the crook of his neck, breathed in right against the skin. James smelled different. Before all this, he smelled like gas. Oil. Grease. Lavender That was probably from him, Rufus assumed. All except the last one. The last one was James.

But now… Now his own smell was much more distinct. There was lavender. Jasmine. A spice, a sort of sweet smell, like a tea he’d smelled Mama brew once. Smoke. He could smell the gas, the oil, car smells still, but they were duller. It was more even now, mixed in together in a perfect blend.

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“What’dya talk about?” He mumbled into James’ flesh. James hesitated, and Rufus could feel his body tense. “...Shit. I’m sorry. You don’t gotta talk, hun. It’s ok.”

James swallowed. Reveled in the silence between them, tension thick and rolling and just  _ waiting  _ for him to ask.

“You ever…. You ever think about your dad?”

“Cutter?”

“The other one.”

“...Oh.”

James hoped he hadn’t hit a nerve with that one. Otis had started talking about his father so casually. 

“I’m sorry. I uh- Shit-”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t…. I don’t really think about him. I don’t  _ wanna  _ think about him. Is that what y’all were…?”

James nodded his head as best he could. Rufus sucked in a breath. 

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm… It’s about that shit downstairs, right? Making a display piece outta your dad.”

“I mean.. I think it’s just  _ all  _ this shit. You know?”

“You died.”

“Yeah.”

“And now your dad’s hangin’ in the livin’ room like a scarecrow.”

“Yeah.”

Silence. Rufus cleared his throat.

“...It’s a lot. You got a lot to deal with. I uh… I don’t think that he’s my dad. The guy Mama had me with. Cause’ he went all devil and whatnot. Tried to hurt her.”

“...Really?”

“Yep. Cutter and her solved it. Cutter was the one who went with Mama to the hospital. Cutter was the one who held me. Cutter’s the one who’s been here for me since I was a baby.”

“So Cutter…”

“...Is my dad. He’s the only dad I recognize at least.”

:”Hmm…”

“The trick is that blood don’t mean whoever you’re born with. Blood’s what you make it. Blood’s whoever you wanna consider blood. Cutter didn’t have me with Mama. Otis didn’t come from Mama herself. But they’re still blood.”

That made sense. Spaulding had been here for so long, loved Mama so long. How could he not be family? And Otis… Otis was… Shit. Otis was  _ weird.  _ But he was still family. 

“You’re blood too. Especially after all this, but even if it hadn’t happened you’d still be blood.”

“How so?”

“Cause’ I love you. And if I love you, the rest of em’s gotta tolerate you at least. And we won’t let nothin’ fuckin’ touch you an’ get away with it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so!
> 
> i think this may in fact be the end of this fic! however, like i said, i DO have an idea on what i wanna do for part 3. its kind of out there in terms of execution ad may take me a bit to finally plot out all of it however it IS coming. 
> 
> this fic being essentially wrapped up is surreal. like, really surreal. i think the attention its gotten to begin with is kind of mind numbing. like... everyone liked my weird rambling bullshit i made for house of 1000 corpses. yall really vibed with this and supported it when it started as a time killer during the great biblical plague of 2020. thats kind of insane. thanks for that like i mean it 100 percent thank you so much for the support you guys have given this weird shit it means the world to me. im going to start working on a plot outline for the third part asap and try and keep on myself about writing it- i recently got the inspo to make Fic again out of nowhere so im gonna ride this high for as long as i can. anyways again, i cannot thank everyone enough for riding along this absolute nightmare of a fic with me anda ctually having the same horrible taste i do and liking it. its neat.
> 
> i just really really hope rob zombie or nobody else who worked on these movies ever finds this because i feel like hed hate it rob zombie if your reading this im so fucking sorry dude. holy shit.


End file.
